Singer Songwriters who should be household names....

by hillary_step 178 Replies latest social entertainment

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  hillary_step

  Dan,

  So where do y'all hear about these people??

  Being an old fart helps. The reality is that very little 'new' music is being produced these days. I know that some think people like Seeker, Six Amicus and I are locked in a bygone era musically, but the fact is that creatively the music world is filled with many copyists and few innovators these days.

  I do not listen to the radio and never have. I have been attached to the music industry for years so end to hear about what is happening from my peers. What I do when presented with music is to read about the band/songwriter and find out who they were influenced by, inevitably it is a name that erupted in the late sixties or early seventies.

  For example, a few years ago someone sent me the masters of a 'Badly Drawn Boy', a singer/songwriter from Manchester. I listened with interest as the kid most definately has potential. Dylan, Nick Drake, Smiths...he was an open book and needs to polish up his picking. When I heard that he had played the Festival Hall I was disappointed. As a promoter I could think of several dozen people who deserved that spot more than he.

  So the first thing to do is to forget the time, and ageist thing and search back in history. You will find that the past has much to offer. Just as there are no new Mahler's, Tchiakovsky's, Beethoven's and bach's roaming the earth these days, neither are there many Townes Vand Zandt's.

  An example. Somebody mentioned 'Moby Grape' earlier, here is a track from the eccentric genius Alexander Spence from his disastrously uncommercial 'Oar' album recorded in 1969. Despite its lack of PC lyrics, it still sings. I have yet to read the bio's of many serious lyricists who do mention him somewhere. An unfortunate life was lived, but face it, most of us would be happy to die producing half an 'Oar'.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DouiBOOlEok&feature=related

  HS
• 

  avishai

  Thanks HS, two words into that song and I was hooked, amazing.
• 

  avishai

  So where do y'all hear about these people??

  To add to HS comments, w/ me it's a short attn span, i.e, can't stand to hear the same hing over and over, which is why bands like "Rage against the machine" that have talented musicians and lyricists drive me up the wall, after awhile it all sounds like the same song. Also, mediocrity, low common denominator music that seems to be the norm (though not always) with the music industry. Hate that too. So, while being an old fart helps, having a love for music and a need to find good stuff also helps.
• 

  hillary_step

  Avishai,

  To add to HS comments, w/ me it's a short attn span, i.e, can't stand to hear the same hing over and over, which is why bands like "Rage against the machine" that have talented musicians and lyricists drive me up the wall, after awhile it all sounds like the same song. Also, mediocrity, low common denominator music that seems to be the norm (though not always) with the music industry. Hate that too. So, while being an old fart helps, having a love for music and a need to find good stuff also helps.

  Now that is a very valid point, thank you. Yes, the repetitious nature of musicians who get caught in a groove and cannot shift the tide is matched only by those who try to play anything until they are noticed.

  Here is one of the most talented female songwriters that struck a keyboard, Laura Nyro, playing a song that is especially close to my heart and laid down in 1968. Much copied, never bettered.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNd-oR39_9U

  HS
• 

  amicus

  Bert Jansch should be a household name. One of the best "folk" guitarists out there.

  I've never linked youtube videos here before so hopefully these work.

  Jansch
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3mGV5pDDsM

  Jansch (and Renbourn) with Pentangle
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFuxq_J1VuA
• 

  Big Tex

  The reality is that very little 'new' music is being produced these days.

  I'm glad to hear you say this. I thought maybe it was just me, stuck back in my youth. I read an article once, God knows where now, talking about new groups, singers, songwriters, et al., that said the difference between the music of 2008 and that of 30-40-50 years ago is today they don't know where the sounds originated. Back in the day, Jerry Lee Lewis/Elvis Presley knew where their sound came from, the Beatles & the Stones knew and built on it and so on.

  Forgive me, I don't pretend to understand a scintilla of what others do on this thread, but I do wonder if that is part of the problem. A lack of understanding of the roots of where their sound came from.

  Well that and current studio mass-produced one-sound-fits-all American-Idol crap that gets passed off as "music".
• 

  hillary_step

  Dan,

  Another singer/songwriter whose work is worth hunting for. Very simple songs, but the melodies reach deep.

  Bill Withers. 'Ain't No Sunshine', recorded in 1972 and covered by Sting, Jose Feliciano, Lenny Kravitz etc..

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIdIqbv7SPo&feature=related

  HS

  PS - Apologies for the double post, have no idea why this is happening, probably Junction's confused sexuality messing me around.
• 

  MsMcDucket

  I guess I posted to the wrong thread. Mediocrity? I'm not into the same music as you; as simple as that.
• 

  MsMcDucket

  And, darnit, I'm not going to post something, just to fit it, that conforms to everyone elses idea of good!
• 

  hillary_step

  Amicus,

  Bert Jansch should be a household name. One of the best "folk" guitarists out there.

  Well, thankfully he is in the UK. I will admit he is an acquired taste, especially vocally, but I have never understood quite why he is not taken to heart in the US. This man revolutionised the 'baroque' style of acoustic playing and so many young musicians are playing what he styled without even knowing it.

  Bert is a very shy man, and quite the opposite of the 'in your face' ambition expressed by many young musicians these days. He got 100 quid for his first album that you linked above, perhaps he is still reeling from that. ;) In fact 'Angie' (written by Davey Graham) from that album is the first thing I ever learned to play acoustically.

  Have you heard his 'Live Downunder?' It is a bucket of shivers.

  I am enjoying this thread so much I even feel moved to {{{{{{{{Flipper}}}}}}}}}}}}

  HS