Who is the Greatest Female Country Music Singer?

Dolly Parton*****

So sorry

Of all of them Patsy Cline was the best singer by far. And she was REAL country. A good ol' girl.

If we are talking vocal chops, Reba in her prime.

If we are talking crafting a song, Patsy Cline.

No one can belt it out like Reba McEntire

Loretta Haggers

Martina McBride

Trisha Yearwood

Patsy Cline, for both her technique and her influence

Patsy Cline. She was the real deal. I like the other singers, especially Loretta and Tammy. Patsy, really had a distinct and elegant voice. She was tough too.

Happy to see Cline in the lead

Patsy, Dolly, and Reba

You forgot me!!

Tammy, without a doubt.

There's a difference between "country" and "western" music. Patsy Cline sounded more western than the others.

I'd say Tammy Wynette. She could hit some really high notes and she sang a lot of country-flavored lyrics about relationships gone wrong, etc.

Cline. She's truly in a class by herself.

Within her genre, her talent is unsurpassed.

She never over sings. Quiet subtlety rather than belting or bombast, is more effective when conveying heartache.

This might be controversial.

I don’t consider Patsy Cline “country”. I know she’s country but her music sounds very 1950s and 60s pop and rock and roll to me.

When I think of female country, I hear Loretta and Tammy or Dolly.

I’ve always put Patsy with Patti Page and Connie more than Loretta and Tammy.

Is it just me?

Like if Connie is pop and Patsy is the difference? Patsy could have sang “Who’s Sorry Now”. But the genres are considered different.

I guess it’s like how Adele is a pop singer even though it’s actually R&B.

R15, I feel the same way about Patsy. My vote would go to Bobbie Gentry or Loretta Lynn.

Very tough to select just one, for me Loretta Lynn just marginally edges out Dolly Parton, but all of these artists have done some great songs. I have 167 Loretta Lynn tracks downloaded into my phone

r15 I think this sounds pretty country

Nobody can touch Cline's voice.

Anita Carter

Bitsie Mae Harling.

I just watched “Sweet Dreams” again last night. I love those performances.

Loretta Lynn was close personal friends with George H.W. and Barbara Bush

Skeeter Davis merits a mention here.

Reba is the most ridiculous over singer in the history of country music. Patsy is a far superior vocalist.

OP how are you defining greatest? Greatest voice? Greatest overall image? Most well known? Greatest person?

Overall I'd vote Dolly Parton, although Reba, Patsy, maybe Loretta have voices just as strong if not stronger.

Reba McEntire is great when she’s restrained. She’s like all belters that get huge success and start trying to hit the back of the rafters on every song, see Whitney and Christina. The evolution of her voice is very interesting. This is 1988.

Dolly is a great songwriter and has a pleasant singing tone but her voice is weak.

Dolly's voice is weak, now. Here she is in ~ 2015 singing live, Little Sparrow.

Meant to say that Dolly did have a very strong voice, even into her older age.

I thought "Fancy" (Reba) was a DL fave.

Pam Tillis and Wynonna, their voices held up the best.

Wy

Patsy- rich, fat naturally powerful voice with all manner of vocal shading. I put in a category with Aretha, Judy and Barbra- perfect storm of vocal gifts and musical artistry.

Gretchen Wilson.

R36 Repug cunt

Reba is very showy with little subtlety, that’s why she was perfect for Broadway.

Reba’s song about HIV/AIDS almost got her cancelled by conservatives in country, her next album’s sales slipped by half. It brought great awareness and a different perspective to the disease. Definitely was an uncomfortable song at the time to hear. I think the song had a profound effect on thoughts about it.

Fancy was not Reba's song; it was written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry in the late 60's.

Thanks, R40, didn't know that.

The first version of Fancy I heard was Lynn Anderson's. My parents had this album.

Reba's Fancy is the best.

Say what you will of her voice, no country female past or present comes close to her as an entertainer. I know quite a few queens who begrudgingly tagged along to one of her concerts in the 90s and left a fan.

Miranda Lambert doesn't have the years that everyone else does on the list. However give her another decade or two.

Nobody can sing a fucking story like Dolly Parton.

Extra points for being the songwriter of most of her work, including this.

R45 Miranda is turning into some fat, small town, busybody hedgehog

Her affected twang is okay in doses, she has zero stage presence

Lee Ann Womack has a beautiful country voice. Here she is, singing "The Grand Tour" at the Opry, George Jones tribute (he's in the audience).

Does LeeAnn Rimes even sing country any more? She has a gorgeous, incredibly versatile voice.

I always thought Barbara Mandrell had a great soulful country sound. Too bad she went all Christian. She could sing about whorin’’ around with the best of them!

Bobbie Gentry had a velvety, sensuous voice best appreciated on some of the slow, intimate tracks she recorded.

Her sound wasn’t exactly pure country, but her songwriting captured the gothic aspects of the Deep South so fantastically that she deserves for more accolades than she’s gotten in the genre.

Beautiful song, r51. I love Bobbie Gentry and remain intrigued by her sudden departure and continued ability to happily live outside the spotlight.

There was a deliberate attempt, beginning in the late 1950s, to make country music that was slicker and more pop-oriented. Gone were the fiddles and pedal steel guitars, replaced by piano, swirling strings, and background vocal choirs. This became a subgenre known as the Nashville Sound. In the ‘60s, it evolved into the Countrypolitan style, an even more overtly country-pop sound.

Patsy Cline is probably the most famous example of the Nashville Sound, which is why some have commented that her music sounds indistinguishable from, for instance, Connie Francis. There was a lot of overlap between Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan and adult pop/easy listening music of the 1950s and ‘60s.

R49 for the most part Leann Rimes doesn't make country music anymore. It's been about ten years. She's gone down a lot of interesting musical paths. If she had stayed singing country she might have ended up on the list. There's her pre Eddie career and her post Eddie career.

r49 I will always love this

Carrie Underwood

Krauss is the most decorated Grammy vocalist in any category.

To R35, I agree with you on your list. However, I would add Maria Callas, Gladys Knight, Billie Knight and Ella Fitzgerald.

All superior singers who were "heads above the rest".

I absolutely love Patsy, but I think Dolly edges her out because she writes her songs and hast stayed at the top of her game for so long. Not to mention she's a wonderful human being. That's not a slur against Patsy.

I wouldn’t pick her as the winner in this category as she is unique, both in style and somewhat puzzling career, but glad Bobbie Gentry was mentioned here. She has a bigger catalog than her two big hits and was great.

Patsy Cline. She makes you FEEL who she was. She was a powerhouse in every way. She left an everlasting impact on country music in the short time she had. She was tough, hard drinking, and not afraid to take chances. She's an original. I love Loretta, Dolly, Dottie West, but Patsy is my favorite.

I didn't realize I had commented on her back in January, until someone liked my comment. R61.

What about K.D Lang? Shadowland was a great country album.

Yes, K.D. Lange,another powerful country music singer. Another who broke the mold, and told you who she was through her music. She really is a stylistic vocalist. When she did the duet with Roy Orbison, and the contrast, was like, wow. She has an awesome voice. The range.

My favorite k.d lang song

It's Dolly Parton.

Hunter Hayes....Oh...I thought you said FATTEST....My bad.....

I wonder if Ty Herndon ever fooled around with Hunter Hayes? I wonder what Helen would think of him today? Did you know that Ty was named after Tyson chicken?

Neko Case if we are including Alt Country

Loretta. She real did address real issues in her songs.

I'm sort of worn out on Dolly. Is she or is her husband in the 2023 death pool?

R67 holy shit. The album cover trying to cover up his fatness is hilarious and ridiculous

Brenda Lee….Juice Newton.

“Nobody”…”Baby, I Lied”🤥.

Dolly Parton is a master songwriter.

What the fuck about Lacy J Dalton!

R73 put facts into action

“Baby I Lied” - Deborah Allen

‘Nobody” - Sylvia

Perfect examples of 80s country pop.

I never understood the appeal of Patsy Cline's music.

PBS' American Masters pays tribute to Brenda Lee tonight, in a special that includes interviews with the 80-year-old Lee and such admirers as Keith Urban, Tanya Tucker, Trisha Yearwood, Pat Benatar, producer Neil Giraldo and radio personality Shotgun Tom Kelly.

Patsy Cline, no doubt.

Loretta Lynn by a mile. If you count song writing, performing live, keeping the brand alive. Fist City is the greatest female country recording ever IMO. Hilarious and biting, Loretta knew how to give the fans what they wanted, and she had far more social commentary in her music than most. Tammy a close second.

Love Loretta. Her duets with Ernest Tubb and Conway Twitty can also be quite comical - both in the lyrics and the delivery.

Dolly Parton could do social commentary as well. Down from Dover is surely her most heartbreaking song, but also one that shifts the blame from a cast out unwed pregnant girl to her condemnatory parents and the guy who abandoned her.

Her vulnerability, sadness, and haunting solitude in the end make the point better than any direct pronouncement could ever do.

Barbara Fairchild

Ty Herndon