Anyone ever heard of an artist called Kevin Coine?
 

I know the guy. He was a friend of my dad's. He was English but spent most of his life in Nuerenberg, Germany. He was a real musician's musician.

You should check him out, he's amazingly talented but not very well known in the States.

Coyne's album 'Marjory Razorblade' is fantastic. There's quite a bit of emotional variation on the album and the a Capella opener is my favourite off the album. Sort of like a downplayed captain beefheart who isn't tom waits.

That is a great album. I also have "Matching Head & Feet" which has some fine tracks as well as a couple compilations: one when he was in Siren plus his early solo years and the other a collection of his early to late '70s material. I'd recommend his "Sign of the Times" collection for anyone wanting to check out this great, under-appreciated singer-songwriter.

Kevin Coyne was one of the people considered to replace Jim Morrison in The Doors, after Morrison's untimely death.

I saw Kevin Coyne and his band perform at a club in Cambridge, MA, when they were touring shortly after the 'Sugar Candy Taxi' album came out.
There was an MTV type alternative/hard rock band performing a show on the stage before Kevin's show and the place was packed with about 500 people. Just before Kevin and his band came out on stage, the audience had dwindled down to about half. 3 or 4 songs into his set, and there were about 50 people in attendance. By the 7th or 8th song there were about 20 or so of us left who stayed for the rest of the show.
The band played a fantastic show from start to finish and the tiny audience was quite appreciative! I was quite surprised that so few people were there for the show, and of all the many hundreds of shows I've attended over many years, it stands as the smallest turnout for any band or performer I've ever seen.

After the show, I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin and talking to him for a few minutes. I mentioned the fact that I was surprised that the audience was so small and he just smiled and said "as long as you enjoyed it, that's all that matters."
He was also kind enough to sign a copy of his book 'Beautiful Extremes: Conversations with Kevin Coyne' for me.
A hell of a nice guy and definitely under-appreciated as a singer/songwriter in my opinion.