With clear diction, a creamy tone and intense focus on language, Upshaw has established herself as one of America's great recitalists, often including songs by American and contemporary composers on her programs.
His elitist aesthetics and patrician diction supported a populist ethos that celebrated excellence in carpentry and art-making alike, and hoped to play down the role of money in ruling everything, a shaky position to maintain at any time and maybe impossible to duplicate by anyone brave enough to emulate his example.