Listing, Listing …

I’ve recently been wondering why I don’t write as much about acoustic guitarists as their plugged-in friends, because the music I listen to probably contains as many acoustic guitars as electric.

Maybe it’s the wow factor of the electric guitar.  I dunno.

I don’t even have a Top Ten list.  Maybe it’s just too hard.

I mean, where do you start?  You could fill the list with the influential blues cats like Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Son House or John Lee Hooker.  You could fill it with acoustic specialists like James Taylor, Bruce Cockburn, Cat Stevens, Harry Manx, Paul Simon or Donovan.  You could easily fill it with players who also play a mean electric guitar, like Clapton, Page, Knopfler, Bonamassa, Neil Young or Colin James.

Hmmm.  Plenty of wow factor in all those names.

I guess there’s the “defined the instrument/broke new ground” thing that gets applied to musicians on other instruments.  In that case, I suppose my list would be: Leadbelly, Johnson, Broonzy, Taylor, Simon, Donovan, Stevens, Cockburn, Young and Page.

But then I’d be omitting artist I listen to – and wonder, “how did he/she do that?” – a lot.  People like Clapton, Harry Manx, Arlo Guthrie and Bonnie Raitt.

To hell with lists.  I revere all the guitarists mentioned – them, and a lot more.

The River of Troubled Water

A few posts ago I said that not many artists or groups deserve their own list, but that The Band was one of them.  I stand by that, but don’t dispute that Simon and Garfunkel also deserve their own Top Ten list.

So, without question, does Bruce Springsteen, but 100 Greatest Bruce Springsteen Songs?  I mean, he’s fabulous, and I have the utmost respect, but 100?  Isn’t that just a little excessive?  What about The Beatles or Rolling Stones, or Led Zeppelin or Eric Clapton or Buddy Guy?   Really, almost anyone with a big catalogue and lasting appeal.

Maybe they’re coming, those lists.

Back to Simon and Garfunkel, their impact was large.  Their appeal transcended generations and genres.  They kept the beatnik coffee house folk thing going until the Hippies came along and (all-too briefly) breathed new life into that scene.  That’s a pretty big accomplishment.

Powerful songs, terrific vocals, musical poetry.  “Tom and Jerry” definitely deserve their own list.  Too bad that, like so much other magic from the 60’s, it couldn’t last.

Favourite Songwriters - Part 2

Going back to a previous post  ...  whenever you cut a list short at 10, you start feeling guilty about who you have omitted (well, I do, anyway).

So, some honourable mentions:

Influential blues greats:  Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Leadbelly, Willie Dixon.  See?   There are too many to squeeze into a top ten.

Pete Townshend.  You could say he's uneven, but his best material is huge, and massively influential.

Paul Simon.  Ditto.

Neil Young.  I mean, Neil Young is Neil Young, and even if he didn't make my top ten list, he should be on yours.  Who said this had to make sense?

David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler and Warren Zevon.  My holy trinity of under-rated songwriters.  You can decide which is father, son and holy ghost.

Yikes!  And so I just remembered I forgot - completely forgot - about Bruce Springsteen.  Too late to revise the top ten, so let's put him in with Neil Young and say he should be on yours.