by cmsellers » Fri Apr 08, 2016 4:30 am
Off the top of my head, these are the artists whose albums I've had on on repeat for long periods of time and think I could still stand to listen to.
First, the artists I discovered because of Falcon Ridge Folk Festival or in one case the Rhythm and Roots festival:
Parsonfield, Susan Werner, Ronnie Cox, Vance Gilbert, Tracy Grammer, John Gorka, Chuck Mead.
Now music that I listened to from childhood through college, roughly in order of discovery:
The Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, Jonathan Edwards, The Chieftains, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, They Might Be Giants, Warren Zevon, Billy Bragg, Neil Diamond, The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Dire Straits, Don McLean, Marty Robbins, Bruce Springsteen, Dennis Day, The Byrds, Kathy Mattea, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bob Seger, Merle Haggard, The Highwaymen, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Carole King.
Then there are genre artists I've known about for awhile (mostly since some point in college), and listen to when I want something from their genre:
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Don Edwards, Sons of the San Joaquim, Michael Martin Murphy, Asleep at the Wheel, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Roger McGuinn (for his CD of sea shanties), Leonard Cohen (who is really a genre of one).
Finally, the artists I've started listening to since college, which I mostly associate with foreign countries and/or Texas:
Waylon Jennings, Ry Cooder, Johnny Rivers, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Leo Kottke, Don Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Lucinda Williams, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Irish Rovers, Joni Mitchell, Tom Petty, The Traveling Wilburys, Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, Tom Jones, Steeleye Span, Richard Thompson.
As should be clear, I grew up on folk music, picked up interests in other folk-like genres (particularly real country) and classic rock in college, and since college it's been more of the same, though the peak of my classic-rock listening was in college, and I'm back to more folk-y stuff since then.
Edit: Also, JamishT: your list looks like the list I'd write to answer the question "Who ruined country music?" Well, except Lindsey Sterling. I think we can all agree she's pretty awesome.