In the interest of finding out more about everybody and finding out more about singers that I'm not familiar with, I'm asking the question above.

Who's your current favorite chick singer? What do you like most about them? How did you discover them? And so on... You get the idea. (Also feel free, if you'd rather, to write about artists you really like but aren't your "most favorite in the whole wide world")

For me, My current favorite singer is Dar Williams. Close second, if not tied for first, would be The Nields. Now I know you're all thinking "Of course he likes Dar. Doesn't everyone? She gets so much attention! He's just saying that to pick up girls."
But I really do like her. Seriously. The first time I heard Dar was in college - the song was "Southern California Wants to Be Western New York". This was when her album End Of The Summer had just been released. I thought the song was quite clever and accurate. (I grew up in a New York town and culture very similar to what she describes in the song.) So at that point I liked the song, but didn't think twice about it.
It wasn't until a little later, when a fellow DJ at the college station where I worked, who knew my tastes gave me the CD to play as something that might go with my program. Of course he was right. I played a few of the more rockin' tracks, enjoyed them, and kept an eye out for her future albums. Then one day I heard an acoustic version of "Are You Out There" and fell in love with it. I started using it as the opening theme song to the radio show I did. It wasn't until after college that I made the chance to see Dar live in concert. After I did see her, I wondered why I had waited so long because it was one of the most incredible shows I'd ever seen. (the same show also happened to be my first time seeing The Nields and I became immediately hooked on them too.)
Since that time I've been hooked and I'm proud to say that I have all her albums (except for some of the EP's which I'm too lazy to special order.)
I really like the lyrics to her songs and that she's not afraid to sing about not being sure who you are or what you want. I guess the lyrics really resonate with me. I also like that she's not afraid to be funny and cute (such as "The Babysitter's Here") and still she can be serious. I like that some of her songs are like listening to conversations of regular, everday people. I like the way she wonders about life.

I guess that's me. I could continue to write another whole thing about how excellent The Nields are, but I'll leave that for another time.

Now it's your turn. Go ahead and jump in anytime...