Best Singer Songwriters

My obsession with the songs of the greatest singer/songwriter in the history of music - Bob Dylan, led me on a journey to discover other singer/songwriters who either influenced him, or were influenced by him. My search led me off on tangents into all types of musical genres. It opened up a whole new world of music to me that, thanks to conservative pop radio stations, I never knew existed.

Here are my favourites, in alphabetical order. Many are undeservedly obscure artists - some who made only one LP (that few people bought), and then disappeared.

I have excluded many excellent singer/songwriters from non-English speaking countries, because of the language barrier. Otherwise, artists like Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg, Fabrizio De Andre, Lucio Battisti, Francesco Guccini, Roberto Vecchione, would easily make this list.

There are some genres that I am not a fan of - like: country music, soul music, reggae. So you won't find many artists in my list that fall into these categories. Apologies to Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Prince, Bob Marley, Kris Kristofferson, Gram Parsons, Hank Williams. You also won't find any pre-60's singer/songwriters - like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, in my list, because their music has dated badly, and their pinko politics is not to my liking.

Honourable mentions:
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
Elliott Smith
Frankie Miller
Hamilton Camp
Jonathan Edwards
Mark Eitzel (American Music Club)
Matthew Sweet
Meic Stevens
Paul Westerberg (Replacements)
Peter Bruntnell
Stan Rogers
Steve Forbert
Thomas F Browne