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Looking for some new music and I know you fellas can help

A guy at work turned me on to Sam Baker about a year ago and I've been struggling to find music and lyrics as powerful as his. If you could drop some names it'd be greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Truersound on June 26, 2009 at 5:46pm

Sam Baker is about as powerful as they come my friend. If you haven't checked out Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Kris Kristofferson or Ray Wylie Hubbard......I would recommend those as they (to me at least) sound like heavy influences on Sam Baker

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Permalink Reply by Linda Ray on June 27, 2009 at 9:01am

Some of us gals can help, too, ya know. I'm listening to an advance of Jones Street Station's Inverses. I'm recommending them to just about everyone since I saw them open for Ben Kweller last week. What a show! Don't think I've ever left one happier. FWIW Greil Marcus loves their punk-meets-bluegrass style, and I haven't heard that done really well more than two or three times in the last decade. The record they have out now is called Overcome.

Linda

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Permalink Reply by Zachary Byrd on June 27, 2009 at 7:20pm

Well Truersound, I'm going to have to agree with you. Sam's music is decades ahead of it's time in it's simplicity and delivery. I still get chills listening to him. I'm going to check this Billy Joe Shaver out, I haven't heard anything by him, the rest I enjoy often :)

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Permalink Reply by Hillbilly Haiku on June 28, 2009 at 9:51pm

You can't go wrong with Billy Joe. Here are some more whose writing I enjoy a lot:
Malcolm Holcombe, Eric Taylor, Ray Bonneville, Peter Cooper, Diana Jones, Ben Bedford, Krista Detor, Phil Lee

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Permalink Reply by Daniel T on July 27, 2009 at 11:11pm

Truesound has already mentioned the Texas triumvirate, Townes, Guy and Ray Wylie. Can't go wrong with any of them. I'd add Blaze Foley, another Texas legend. Unique. Powerful. Underheard. Willie Nelson, it goes without saying of course.
Slaid Cleaves has put out a very good body of work from" Broke Down" to his latest" Everything you Love Will Be Taken Away" .
James McMurtry (yes, son of Larry) if you like a bit of rock n roll in your singer/songrwiters. "Live in ought 3" is a great place to start.
Chris Smithers , anything , but "Live as I'll Ever Be" showcases his solo performances.
Dave Carter takes the gentler approach, but he wrote and performed some great work with Tracy Grammar.
Jeffrey Foucoult , "Ghost Repeater" and his latest "Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes". A compilation of John Prine songs. And of course there's John Prine.
Maybe Steve Earle, Chris Knight, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen( the guy who writes the funny songs) he really should get more credit for his serious stuff. Have fun searching.

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Permalink Reply by Malcolm Van Arkadie on July 28, 2009 at 6:07am

There's a couple of people that haven't been mentioned Fred Eaglesmith, Daniella Minghella, Colin Linden, Kasey Chambers, Hayes Carll & Ryan Bingham I agree with all of the others as well. Saw Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women last week he mentioned the Chris Gaffney tribute and did a song from it awesome show if you get a chance to check them out do it.

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Permalink Reply by norm tandberg on February 17, 2010 at 8:21pm

question for anyone. i see one of the names mentioned to check out is daniella minghella. i can't seem to find her anywhere on the net. so where does one find her music? with thanks,norm

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Permalink Reply by declan culliton on August 18, 2009 at 6:09am

Sam Baker is excellent and quite unique and really diificult to catagorise. Try Johnny Dowd or possibly Todd Snider maybe Robert Wyatt. Devon Sproule is also particularly worth a listen, her current and last albums are both top notch and include folk,jazz, country and lots more. Don't know if youve listened to Richmond Fontaine ... great lyrics. Check them out on Amazon or Allmusic to get better feel for them. Failing this there's always Sam Bakers new release to look forward to in the coming months

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Permalink Reply by Arty Hill on August 18, 2009 at 7:30am

Stan Rogers (I guess because of his untimely death) remains way underappreciated. Start with "Fogarty's Cove" (which includes his classic "45 Years") and "Turnaround." Stan covered some tunes by Archie Fisher, a great Scottish singer/fingerstyle guitarist. His "Man with the Rhyme" and "Sunsets I've Galloped Into" records are excellent.