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Hello, Elle!
Snap! regarding online crosswords!
I noticed Albert Lee was playing guitar on the Clapton clip.
Supposedly the best guitarist going!
There are quite a few women who sang "Irene", including Joan Baez, and Emmylou.
I am watching the cycling from Doha, playing "Spot the spectator"!
It has stopped raining here, but still very dull.
All quiet on the granddaughter front today!

Good afternoon, Rusty!
The sunshine did not last long.......we were caught by the rain just as we were heading back to the car!
Still, it was nice to get out!
I had a brain storm whilst half way round the park and solved the parsing for my recalcitrant clue!
6d: "Beginning in sound way" (5)
It was a homophone! root for route!
Not a very good clue?
Anyway, good to have it done with!
I have heard Pete Seeger , also The Weavers, sing "Good Night, Irene" - and a woman whose name I cannot remember?
She was every good? (it wasn't Joan Baez or Emmylou Harris though)
But I still prefer Eric Clapton.
So how is the road race going? (or has it finished?)
How did Peter Sagan get on?

Hello, Elle!
Peter Sagan has won,
He has retained his World Championship.
Mrs Sagan was at the finish.
So, that was pleasing.
Could the woman have been Jo Stafford?
She had a hit with it, too.
She had her own show on Radio Luxembourg.
Another candidate could be Ronnie Gilbert.
She was in the Weavers, but may have sung that on her own.
She had a beautiful voice.
Elvis recorded it, too.
An iffy clue but you got there.
I think homophones are always going to be contentious.

Hi, Rusty!
You will be pleased that Peter Sagan won and retained his title!
And I hear that Mark Cavendish came second.
I have been racking my brains to think who the female singer of "Goodnight, Irene" could be....but I cannot come up with anyone....
I can think of several male singers who sang it......Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Elvis, Pete Seeger; and Johnny Cash did a good version.
I don't think it was Ronnie Gilbert - I cannot find any reference to her singing it on her own.
I don't know Jo Stafford?
But I have traced her on You Tube and listened to her version of the song, but I didn't really like it.
A mystery!
No, I'll stick with Eric Clapton!

Hello, Elle!
Yes, I am very pleased for Sagan.
i felt a bit sorry for the Belgians as they had done a tremendous amount of work during the race.
Not really a course for Pete Sagan, but he got there!
Could your female singer have been Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul, and Mary? She often sang with Pete Seeger when she was younger.
Ronnie Gilbert died last year, a year after Pete Seeger.
Ronnie sang on her own when the group split, but I do not know if she recorded anything.
Fred Hellerman, the last Weaver, died six weeks ago.
I used to listen to the Jo Stafford Show on Radio Luxembourg.
Right, back to the Bluegrass Clog Dancing!!

Hi, Rusty!
I used to love Peter, Paul and Mary....I especially liked "Leaving on a Jet Plane..." and "If you miss the train I'm on....."
Goodness, nostalgia is setting in with a vengeance........
I don't know, Rusty.......I guess it could have been Mary?
But I would have thought that, if it were she, I would have remembered?
I think this had to be someone whose name I knew, but with whom I was not all that familiar?
Ah well....maybe inspiration will strike........
However did you come across Bluegrass Clog Dancing?
I have never heard of it!
I have Peter, Paul and Mary on You Tube now, as I write this.........
But still can't get "Goodnight, Irene" out of my head.......

Hello, Elle!
The clog dancing is good fun!
I have an open mind and just explored different kinds of music.
Looking at the Irish dancing scene now.
They are very keen on jiving.
I am stuck with your female singer.
Linda Ronstadt?
There is a female duo on YouTube singing "Irene".
Holly Near and the great Ronnie Gilbert.
Maybe them?

Hello, Elle!
I have just found a very good/sentimental version of "Irene" on YouTube.
Type "Ronnie Gilbert and Judy Collins" into searchbox, and you'll get it.
It was recorded in 1988.
Forty years after Ronnie first sang it with the Weavers.
It is very good.
Up there with the Bluegrass clog dancing!

Hi, Rusty!
I am fairly sure - although now beginning to doubt myself! - that it was a sole female singer......
And a blonde?
Which would rule out Joan Baez and Ronnie Gilbert!
I have tried Googling but cannot come up with an answer.
Maybe after all, it was Emmylou Harris?
Perhaps I was too quick to rule her out.
Did she record it?
I cannot find it listed under her songs?
But maybe she sang it as a "one-off"?
I don't know Linda Ronstadt?

Hello, Elle,
Blonde rules out Emmylou, too.
She went from brunette to white!
Linda was a country rock singer.
One of the best of her generation.
Do not know if she sang Irene though.
She is ill now.
Still raining here.