If you’re in a musical rut and need to change your tune here’s a list of my all-time 50 favorite singer/songwriters. I’ve linked to a live clip that’s a good representative song for each artist. Disclaimer: this list is HUGELY skewed towards male singers (in fact there’s only one female on the list) plus, yes I play myself and of course dig my own music so I’m on there. If you have any good suggestions to balance out this list with the female gender, please make recommendations. I’ve just rarely found female singers that I connect with. But I’m sure there are great ones out there – add them in the comments if you have suggestions!
Joe Purdy
Sean Tierney
Jose Gonzalez
Nate Stone
Greg Holden
Mat McHugh
Gabriel Valentin
Shane Alexander
Matt Costa
Griffin House
Rocky Votolato
Brett Dennen
Dustin Kensrue
William Fitzsimmons
Colin Hay
Chad Stokes
Jack O’Neill
Ryan Adams
Jeffrey Gaines
Howie Day
Teddy Geiger
Xavier Rudd
Damian Rice
Alexi Murdoch
Conor Oberst
Elliot Smith
Jeff Buckley
Ray LaMontagne
Glen Hansard
Angus & Julia Stone
Joshua Radin
Avett Brothers
Kevin Devine
Joseph Arthur
Mike Doughty
Adam Stephens
Ryan Miller
Brian Chartrand
Mark Kozelek
Misha Chellam
Andy Mckee
Cat Stevens
Nate Ruess
Justin Vernon
Todd Snider
Sam Beam
Nick Drake
Bobby Long
John Prine
Charlie Mars
Sean Hayes
This list can’t be complete – who is conspicuously missing and who are the female equivalents to these guys?
Stornoway, British folk band. Pretty good!
Great compilation.
Love the ease of use with all the YouTube links
Ben Gibberd!!!!!!!
…errrrr, bob dylan?!!!!????
Dennis, I left off Dylan b/c I just assume everyone knows him as the godfather of acoustic (like leaving Einstein out when talking about great scientists). But thanks for giving him mention- he's the greatest.
Check out Trevor Hall and Ben Howard. How could you leave out Ben Harper?
Jamie, I actually had Ben Harper on the original list and he's amazing. I updated with newer, undiscovered artists since I originally wrote this and bumped him but you're right, he definitely belongs on here. Maybe it's time to expand to the "100 acoustic artists you need to know…"
excuse me people but why is jack johnson not there and also arman srsa http://www.armansrsa.com he is awesome
Dallas Green not being on their is an insult to music
And John Butler for that matter!
Gabrielle Aplin is incredible. I don't think anyone could NOT connect with her. You can feel her passion when she sings, and it feels amazing.
Amber, thanks. Will check her out. I've gotten into Adelle lately- she's pretty amazing and worth a listen if you haven't heard her album yet.
Tobias Holenstein!
Where is Never Shout Never? :/
In any acoustic listing, how can Gordon Giltrap ever be missed out?????
Um… Where…the….HELL is Elliott Smith!? He was one of the most underrated songwriters that ever lived! Check out his music! You won't be disappointed! :)
Birdy … 15 years old.. voice will blow your miind ('without a word' , 'shelter')
http://www.youtube.com/tribeofdanvideo
One of the best out there
Why Mat Kearney is not on the list?
Please check out Turin Brakes. Okay, technically there are two of them (Olly and Gale) so maybe outside your criteria, but the songwriting is to die for!
Also, KT Tunstall has written some fabulous acoustic based material.
Ray Lamontagne. incredible.
Amos Lee