I hate singer-songwriters

[Dad Noise]

Actually, I generally do hate singer-songwriters. However, recent changes in my life have kind of, er, 'socialized' my musical tastes, leaving less opportunity to cocoon myself with hour-long droning, clicking, clattering, buzzing things, and I've found myself spending a lot of time listening to Alasdair Roberts, Joanna Newsom, and Josephine Foster, which, yes, I know, makes me a real Wire casualty. The thing is I've been listening to these people for five years or so now, and haven't really found anyone doing anything remotely similar whom I've actually liked. So my question is which singer-songwriter-type artists currently working do people on this board rate? Please interpret the question as widely as you like. Doesn't need to be folk-related, or in English, or even anyone who's emerged particularly recently.

[sepulveda disaster]

I would second the argument that the "singer songwriter" genre usually reeks of self-indulgent and self-important claptrap; kinda like experimental music, actually... but, what makes the singer songwriter formula painful for me is, 96% of the time, the lyrics. where I will be completely useless to you is I don't follow any current singer / songwriters, but I can give you a couple folks that ~sorta~ fall into that category: anyone who wishes to counter how broadly I construct my definition (or my taste, or lack thereof), have at it.

tom waits
arlo guthrie (if only for alice's restaurant)
johnny cash
tori amos (personally, I limit myself to "under the pink" and "little earthquakes")
michelle shocked

and for the fun of it, would anyone say diamanda galas would count?

--sep/dis

[faster]

Willie Nelson

[Salty Swift]

Natalie Merchant

Neil Young

Grzegorz Turnau

Bill Pritchard

etc

etc

etc

[mudd]

sure why not diamanda. works for me, though a lot of her recent material has been covers and classics.

gillian welch is maybe closer to the original target. the first white magic ep. woven hand. jana hunter. early devendra banhart. micah blue smaldone. david sylvian? michael hurley. karen dalton. townes van zandt...

yeah ok now i'm just making a long list. those are good people, mostly on the folk side but veering towards the blues.

m

[snailed]

I like Will Oldham + his various names. Smog/Bill Callahan is good too. "Red Apple Falls" still holds up really well IMO, and I liked the one under Callahan's given name from this past year as well.

[faster]

David Rafn (especially "We were friends and enemies at the same time")

[nicenick]

John Martyn, particularly "Bless The Weather":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cztunw8FvZI

[jon abbey]

I like the first edith frost record ('calling over time') more than any bill callahan or will oldham full-lengths I've tried (I do like songs by them a lot here and there).

[snailed]

I like the first edith frost record ('calling over time') more than any bill callahan or will oldham full-lengths I've tried (I do like songs by them a lot here and there).

never heard that record. will have to give it a try, thanks.

[orangettecoleman]

I like some of Ben Chasny's folkier vocal songs, like those on "Compathia", quite a bit. Neil Finn is a big favorite as well. Later Jonathan Richman is top of the heap for me as far as songwriting goes. I also am a huge Posies fan, although that's more power-pop. I was a huge American Music Club fan for years, but I sold all those CDs because I think they were having an adverse effect on my emotional well-being.

[tarfumes]

Maria McKee has made some hit-or-miss records since her days in Lone Justice. Life Is Sweet is definitely the best -- brilliant over-the-top drama with a wink, and Mick Ronson/Neil Young-esque guitars. High Dive is nearly as good, and contains one of the best Who pastiches I've heard.

Nikka Costa made two good-to-brilliant records (Everybody Got Their Something and can'tneverdidnothin'), and one really awful one (I forget the name of it, but it's on the recently-revived Stax label).

Aimee Mann certainly had her moments (I'm With Stupid, the Magnolia soundtrack, and Lost In Space), but she's currently stuck in a holding pattern of half-assed Badfinger rewrites.

[bryan]

I'd say these are all folk / folk-rock:

Neil Young
Nick Drake
Jim O'Rourke
Fleet Foxes (since you like Joanna Newsom, maybe you'd like them.. I liked Joanna's first album a lot)

detrimental to emotional well-being (though good): Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters)
need to give more of a listen to: Randy Newman
unfolk wild card: Lady Gaga

[faster]

I used to like Giant Sand, especially the really broken-down record they recorded all in some big house. Forgot the name, but it's super fucked up.

[RFKorp]

David Rafn (especially "We were friends and enemies at the same time")

fuck yes.

if I didn't mention Sustentacula in my best of 2009 list, it was a drastic oversight.

[kcorcoran]

well richard beat me to it, but i wanted to up the rafn reference to sustentacula also.
i would like to throw tomokawa kazuki into the discussion, especially the albums "akai polyan" and "sora no sakana."
i can't let the songs:ohia "ghost tropic" album pass mention here.
i really dig tujiko noriko's "shojo toshi"
and, well, i can't pass on mentioning my dear friends dead western and walker from here in town, or featherbeard in los angeles.
+ seconding young, cash, oldham and adding mountain goats for general recommendations, if not current additions.

[bedouin]

I used to like Giant Sand, especially the really broken-down record they recorded all in some big house. Forgot the name, but it's super fucked up.

i guess that would be "long stem rant", a favorite here too a while back. howe gelb hisser is good too.

barrett
drake
de'andre
randy newmann
matt ward
manu chao
etc, etc, etc,

[Stevo]

No mentions for Michael Gira then?

I still enjoy American Music Club & what I've heard of Eitzel solo.

Bill fay was good in the early 70s as was Karen Dalton.

Guess Nick Cave doesn't count though he's got some influences from the original late 60s/early 70s scene.

Charlie Rich did some stuff in the 60s/70s that could pass for it too.
Nick Drake doesn't need mentioining cos you've already got his stuff yeah? big influence on eitzel I'd say.
& Leonard Cohen's always worth a laugh.

Does Nico fit?

[nhennies]

Alex Lukashevsky (and his band Deep Dark United)
Kurt Weisman
Chris Weisman
The Shivers (Keith Zarriello)
Sonny Smith

All of them brilliant and more or less not receiving any kind of much-deserved attention/recognition.

[RFKorp]

i would like to throw tomokawa kazuki into the discussion, especially the albums "akai polyan" and "sora no sakana."

That is a really good call too. After seeing Miike's "Izo", I went out to track down who the singer/guitar player was. Found one album of his, I think it's a live concert. Really love it. I'll see if I can find these.