my current favorite songwriters, pt 1

These are my current favorite songwriters. By current, I mean what they’re doing now, which would eliminate Lennon and McCartney, though for completely different reasons. And one great album (usually) isn’t enough to qualify. They are not in any order other than as they occur to me.

1. Jon Dee Graham: check out Faithless, Wave Goodbye, Laredo (Jim Morrison would have killed to have written a song this good), I Don’t Feel That Way, Beautifully Broken. A great rocker, he and Mike Hardwick play like one amazing four handed guitarist. Lives in Austin, was in the True Believers with Alejandro Escovedo, played and recorded with John Doe.

photo by Winker

2. Michael Fracasso: 1962, Never Enough, Big Sister, Wrong Foot, Eloise. His Back to Oklahoma CD (also released as part of Retrospective) is incredibly beautiful acoustic music (he’s backed only by the incredibly empathic Charlie Sexton) recorded live at the Blue Door. But he’s no folkie: Wrong Foot and Eloise are great flatout rockers. And he does a great cover of Working Class Hero. From the steelworking town of Steubenville OH, Michael first made his name in Greenwich Village before moving to Austin in the early 90s.

photo by Squeek

3. Jeff Talmadge: Driving to Blissville, The Hard Part’s Letting Go, Chasing Grace, 40 Days of Rain, White Cross, Lie to Me. Tim Henderson (a great songwriter himself) said: “Driving to Blissville is an obscure song with great lyrics. If Townes (Van Zandt) had written it, it wouldn’t be so obscure, but it wouldn’t have any better lyrics.” A Texas ex-patriate living in Atlanta, Jeff writes about the darker side of human emotions with compassion and dry wit.

photo by Ron Baker

4. John Wort Hannam: Wrecking Ball, Infantryman (the best song written in the aftermath of the Iraq War), That Boy, We’re Getting By, Buy Another Round, Blue Collar. Great Canadian ex-school teacher who comes from “a long line of people who made a living working with their hands” and writes as well about blue collar struggles as anyone.

5. John Lilly: Tore Up From the Floor Up, Last Chance to Dance, Spirit, Broken Moon, This Old Knife. From West Virginia, John’s music is timeless, sounds like it could have been recorded half a century ago or yesterday. I like his live album best because it’s just John and his guitar and he sounds like a cross between the best rockabilly stars and Woody Guthrie. A terrific cover of Gasoline Alley serves as a reference point for John’s music.