The best Singer/Songwriters
 

The genre label singer/songwriter is a bit weird and vague, but if you stop being a contrarian about it, you can see a lot of artists that fairly neatly bundle together as having a lot in common under this same roof. I'm not going to bother with definitions, and I don't hope this thread devolves into an argument about same, but oh well.

Over the last few years, I've been realizing that this might be my favorite category of music. I've got a good amount of albums from various singer/songwriters, and I'm always looking for new ones worthy of being added to my shelves.

A few that I really, really like:

Joni Mitchell


Joan Baez


Ani DiFranco


Tori Amos


Suzanne Vega


Shannon Wright


Beth Orton


Alela Diane


I'm listening to Jeff Buckley's only full album, Grace, as I'm writing this. First time for me. Damned good so far!

There's no doubt that this area of music holds a lot more for me to appreciate, so I'm very curious about what I'll find down the line.

What singer/songwriters, if any, do you guys like?

That's why I thought you might like James Taylor as he falls into the singer/songwriter category.

Since you mentioned Joan Baez, I'm assuming you're including folk artists. That would undoubtedly include Dylan and he is up there.

But I'd also mention Phil Ochs, Leonard Cohen, and Elliott Smith.

And I like Joni Mitchell too.

It's a weird, fussy genre that spans several other genres. Some singer/songwriters stay within the confines of (for example) something folksy, bluesy or something close to alternative rock, while a lot of other artists in the genre touch on all of those genres and more throughout their discography. Basically, the song takes center stage and various musical styles and instruments may be brought in to flesh it out and make it sound musically interesting.

I very much consider Bob Dylan part of the singer/songwriter. If anything, he's the most important early example of the archetype.

I'm still fairly ignorant of his discography, but I've begun taking a listen to his music now and then. I suspect his music will grow on me.

Bolded: I'll look into their music. Spotify is my friend.

James Taylor for sure.

Give my man Dan a try, maybe...

I do have a bit of a dislike of the "genre" since it tends to be boring, or, even worse, you have to give a **** about lyrics.

That being said:
Tim Buckley
Peter Hammill
Josephine Foster
Townes Van Zandt
Leonid Fedorov

This is the song Phil Ochs is best known for.

That's what really puzzles me: I don't give much of a crap about lyrics, but I love this genre. So there must be something else to it.

Blowfly

I'm a big Patty Larkin fan.