Dar Williams and Joan Osborne

Of all the '90s female folk artists who cited Joan Baez as a muse, Dar Williams had the closest ties to Baez herself, touring and dueting with and writing songs for the folk legend. Where many of Williams' peers sang with a jagged edge, aggressively trumpeting their individuality, politics and sexuality with sing-along anger and profanity, Williams was never so subversive. Her songs were cleaner, poppier and more inclusive, her political stances hippie-ish in their good intentions. Her latest album, 2010's Many Great Companions, is a greatest-hits collection with a second disc of new, acoustic re-recordings of some of her favorite songs, featuring guest spots from Mary Chapin Carpenter and Gary Louris. Opener Joan Osborne remains synonymous with her lone hit, 1995's “One of Us.”