We all have them. They are bands or singers that we love, yet that don’t seem to make it onto the mainstream radar.

Sometimes this is understandable due to the challenging nature of their music, but often it is a combination of dumb luck, bad timing, and questionable personal behavior that confine these artists to a niche market. I am a lyrics man. I love the music, but lyrics are what endear me to songs. I live for the clever turn of phrase, the witty bon mot, the sharply honed insight. The love I have for songs where the music is what draws me in usually wanes after some time. However a song with great lyrics will bring me back to it again and again. Singer-songwriters are notoriously hard to market, and with today’s restrictive radio programming policies, it is unlikely that any of these artists will receive any radio airplay. Here are five singer songwriters who have had varying degrees of success, though none are a household name. All are top notch lyricists and musicians who deserve a wider audience. 

Todd Snider
Of these five artists, Todd is my favorite. He moved to Texas as a young man, and after listening to artists like Jerry Jeff Walker, and John Prine, began his career. This story is hilariously recounted on his live album in the songs The Story of the Ballad of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern, and the ballad of the same name.  Todd has my favorite attribute in singer-songwriters, cleverness, in spades. Consider the second line on My Generation Part 2, the first song on his first album. “My Generation part 2, verse 3, chapter 4, Jackson 5, Nikki Sixx..” He’s funny, political, and spins a great yarn. I rarely make a CD mix for someone without a Todd song. He plays solo acoustic live, but has a band on the albums. I saw him once with a band at a 600 seat club that had about 40 people in it. He played like he was at Madison Square Garden, a class act. Check out Songs From the Daily Planet, The Devil You Know, or the live Near Truths and Hotel Rooms. 

John Hiatt
Hiatt started his career in the late 60s in garage bands. His songs began to be covered by a number of bands by the early seventies, with Three Dog Night taking Hiatt’s Sure As I’m Sitting Here, to number 16. From 1974 to 1985, he recorded six albums in varying styles that, while containing some great songs, were mostly uneven. The exception being 1983’s Riding with the King, the title song of which was a minor hit for Eric Clapton and B.B. King. He finally settled on a style that is an amalgam of rock, country, blues, and folk, and released his masterpiece, Bring the Family in 1987 with an all-star cast of Ry Cooder (guitar), Nick Lowe (bass), and Jim Keltner (drums). Bonnie Raitt had a huge hit a number of years later with Thing Called Love from this album. Since 1987, Hiatt has released 11 more albums of mostly great songs, with only one stinker, 1997’s Little Head. Check out Bring the Family, Riding with the King, Crossing Muddy Waters, or The Tiki Bar is Open 

Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon is afflicted with a disease. That disease is novelty song-itis. After releasing two critically acclaimed records that no one bought in 1970 and 1971, Loudon recorded Album III in 1972, which contained his only hit, Dead Skunk. Unfairly banished to the Dr. Demento circuit, Wainwright has soldiered on, producing 21 albums over his 37 year career, with his latest being Strange Weirdoes, Songs Inspired by the Film Knocked Up. He writes what one could nominally call folk songs, though his insightful, often biting lyrics set him apart from the 60’s and 70’s peace and love hippie folk artists.  He has written some wonderful songs from his personal life including Lullaby, and a song about his mother entitled White Winos. His genes are good as well, as he is the father of the better known Rufus Wainwright, and lesser known Martha Wainwright. His album of political songs recorded for NPR includes the hilarious ode to Jesse Helms, If Jesse Don’t Like It. Check out More Love Songs Social Studies, and History. 

Steve Earle
Steve Earle burst onto the Nashville scene in 1986 with the album Guitar Town  He was always too rock and roll for the country crowd, and too country for the rock crowd, and his album sales suffered for it. Early in his career he was plagued by personal problems and substance abuse. He had spent a majority of his formative years with country icon Townes Van Zandt, who Earle himself called “not the best role model.”  After a stint in rehab he finally kicked his habits, and started to release a string of critically if not commercially successful albums. His leftist politics got him in some hot water with John Walker’s Blues, a song about American Taliban John Walker Lindh on 2002’s Jerusalem It is not an indictment of Lindh, but rather a “how did this person get to this point” musing, a distinction lost on the pundits at the time who called for Earle’s head. With his rockabilly musical styling and sharply pointed political lyrics, Earle has carved out a nice niche for himself. Check out Train a Comin’, I Feel Alright, a bluegrass album with The Del McCoury Band called The Mountain, and the virulent anti-Bush album The Revolution Starts Now. 

Graham Parker
Starting with his debut album in 1976, Howling Wind, and 30 years and 25 plus albums later, Graham Parker is a songwriting force to be reckoned with. GP, as he’s known to his small cult of fans, is still going strong releasing the excellent Don’t Tell Columbus in 2007. Though he was lumped in with early new-wave rockers like Elvis Costello, his music is less pop/rock oriented, and more of a pub rock, harder edged sound. He’s a prickly character, shown most effectively by the release of the song Mercury Poisoning as the B-side to his first single off the Mercury label.  GP has recorded albums in many different styles, but always seems to come back to the pub rock sound that gave him the best reviews. He’s had several “comeback” albums, most notably The Mona Lisa’s Sister in 1988 that spawned a minor hit in Get Started (Start a Fire), but his popularity has always centered on a small, yet loyal fan base. Check out his best album Squeezing Out Sparks/Sparks Live, Howling Wind, Heat Treatment, or Struck By Lightning.

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