Looking for good

[larryhammer]

Inspired by this post, I'm soliciting recommendations. I'm looking for stuff in the Patty Griffin/Patty Larkin/Dar Williams region of musicspace. Any suggestions?

Two possibly useful parameters: (A) I recognize that Nancy Griffith is good but find her impossible to listen to for more than a couple songs in a row. (2) I consider Alannis Morrissette, Tori Amos, David Gray, and Vanessa Carlton to be very close to the above locus, while Michelle Branch is actually working a different genre. (Arguably, Mary Chapin Carpenter is as well, the same one that has Cowboy Junkies.)

---L.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

The Indigo Girls, of course. And you probably have this already, but the Dar Williams/Lucy Kaplansky/Richard Shindell album Cry Cry Cry is fabulous.

You might try Lucinda Williams' and Emmylou Harris' last few albums, like Car Wheels On a Gravel Road, Wrecking Ball, and Red Dirt Girl. They're a different generation, but have a timeless cool which seems in the same category.

[larryhammer]

Thanks. Been meaning to track down Lucinda Williams for a bit, though I've always thought of her as similar to Mary Chapin Carpenter. <check> on IG and Emmylou. I got to Dar Williams from Cry Cry Cry, actually — which I really like.

---L.

[randimason.livejournal.com]

And now you know why I miss having regular access to WXPN. For the first time in a year, I can't answer that question.

That said, I still like what I've heard from Eastmountainsouth; any band that incorporates Eminem rap into a folk song and makes it work is probably worth a second look. And I trust Rita Houston's ears (http://wfuv.venaca.com/cgi-bin/colinker.cgi?colink=1008399152); enough to wonder what Nellie McKay sounds like (she's on Morning Becomes Electric (http://www.kcrw.org/show/mb) too.

[larryhammer]

Thanks.

---L.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Jenny Bruce might well fit in this nexus (you can listen to some of her cuts over on CD-Baby), also possibly Joan Osborne (especially if you find you like Lucinda Williams), and Paula Cole. If you aren't already reading it, the IndieCrit page is worthwhile for finding independent music that is similar to what you already like.

(and who the hell am I? Oh, I'm just the other person on LJ who listed nominal aphasia as an interest and dropped by on a blog hop)

[larryhammer]

<makes a note about Jenny Bruce and Joan Osborne> I liked Paula Cole's first album, but found the follow-up unlistenable, and recently sold the first back to the CD exchange. Thanks.

And welcome, UrlrikAkirlU. I hope you stick around — anyone who knows what nominal aphasia is probably is an interesting person. (Out of curiousity, do you have it or just interested in it?)

---L.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Paula Cole's second was not her finest hour. Reminds me: if the only thing you've ever heard of Suzanne Vega was the unfortunate single, "Luka" then it would probably be worth your time to check into some of her other stuff. Farther out into the ether, if you like Kate Bush, you should probably check out Happy Rhodes.

No, I don't have nominal aphasia in the clinical sense, where I can't even name household objects. But I think most people periodically experience a mild version, wherein the *right* noun drops out of their heads and can only be retrieved by circuitous means, and I certainly have that.

[larryhammer]

I listened to a couple of Vega's albums (admittedly a decade ago) and came away with the impression that she, like Bob Dylan, is a much better songwriter than performer. I still have one Bush album left (Hounds of Love, the least uneven), so maybe I'll try Happy Rhodes.

I don't have clinical nominal aphasia either, but nouns are the first to escape me when I'm tired.

And doesn't everyone know TNH/PNH? Seems that way, sometimes.

---L.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I hope you stick around

I just tacked you onto my Friends list; which is where I realized we also already had tnh & pnh in common. Small planet.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Jonatha Brooke, maybe? I like her album 10-cent wings best, although I haven't listened to the new Back from the Circus a lot yet.

Also possibly Beth Orton (Central Reservation), Kris Delmhorst, and--if you're in the mood for male vocalists--Peter Mulvey and Jeffrey Foucault.

[larryhammer]

Thanks for the recs. I like Central Reservation and have been meaning to pick up Orton's recent album.

---L.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Christine Lavin is both wise and funny. Try Attainable Love. "He is afraid of attainable love/Afraid it will envelop him, swallow him up/All of his life he has resisted the tug/Of attainable love, attainable love".

[larryhammer]

We haven't tracked that album down yet. We're quite partial to Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch.

---L.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

You might try Kate Rusby. She's Irish, and lovely, and reminds me in some ways of Dar Williams.

[larryhammer]

To be honest, I've never heard of her. Must look for. Thanks.

---L.

[terrymcgarry.livejournal.com]

Definitely give Christine Lavin a try. Also Cheryl Wheeler. The two of them used to perform fairly often with Patty Larkin, along with Cliff Eberhardt and John Gorka, and they're all very closely grouped in my mind. If you're looking for male voices in that New Folk singer-songwriter milieu, David Wilcox and Vance Gilbert are a couple more you might try.

Jonatha Brooke is a great suggestion. (Was that melymbrosia?) She used to sing in a duo called The Story, and their album Angel in the House is one of my all-time favorites. Interesting songs, beautiful voices, and haunting harmonies, if you're into that.