Unreal They’re Unheard of: 5 Underrated Artists From the First Singer/Songwriter Era

When it became clear that it was possible to be a songwriter who didn’t need to be either tethered to a group or pen songs for other artists, the first singer/songwriter era began in earnest. When the first wave of these artists came rolling into the picture, there were some who immediately rose to the limelight in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. But there were also many who did amazing work who don’t get the same kind of recognition today. Here are five early-era singer/songwriters whom you should be checking out if you don’t know much about them.

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1. David Ackles

Ackles came to music from a bit of an unusual background, as he was a child actor and a film major in college. He wrote songs that were marked by theatrical leanings, almost as if they were pulled from some musical going on inside his head. “Down River,” from his 1968 debut album, was an immediate stunner, as it took the form of a letter from a prisoner to a former love who has moved on with her life. His 1972 album American Gothic was a stone-cold classic, a song cycle filled with achingly emotional narratives such as “Love’s Enough” and “Waiting for the Moving Van.” When that failed to land, Ackles pretty much packed it in, releasing just one more album before taking a different career path. Artists like Elvis Costello and Elton John have professed their deep admiration for his all-too-small body of work.

2. Labi Siffre

Siffre received a little bit more exposure in his native UK than he did stateside, but he deserves more everywhere. He’s a singer/songwriter with a knack for delivering deceptively simple songs that manage to dig way deep upon repeated listens. You might know his song “It Must Be Love” from the minor hit version done by the ska-pop band Madness in the early ‘80s. The lilting “Crying Laughing Loving Lying,” popular from numerous movie and TV needle drops over the years, is one of the best examples of how his offbeat approach to lyrics often paid big dividends. And melodies like “My Song” (later sampled by Kanye West) are as pretty as they get. Siffre hasn’t done too much recording since the mid-‘70s, but his albums from the early part of that decade are all wonderful.

3. Judee Sill

There were a ton of singer/songwriters to come out of the West Coast scene, and many of them became huge stars. Yet there’s a special reverence among those folks for the work of Sill, who finished only two albums in her brief life. She’s one of those artists whose music might not be that well-known, yet you’re probably listening to artists today who were heavily influenced by her. She had a knack for making ingenious metaphorical connections in her songs, which often featured unorthodox yet catchy melodies and rhyme schemes. “Jesus Was a Crossmaker” is a song that has been covered by a ton of artists (Warren Zevon perhaps the most notable.) But there are gems to be found all through those two records, including “The Kiss,” “There’s a Rugged Road,” “Lady-O,” and many more.

4. Colin Blunstone

Blunstone is unique on this list because he entered the singer/songwriter realm only after success in a group as the chief singer and one of the main songwriters for The Zombies. Once that group folded, he immediately set to work churning out excellent material under his own name. There’s a rich melodicism to his solo work that carried over from some of the classics he wrote with his former group. His work on ballads is particularly rich. “Caroline Goodbye” bids farewell to a relationship in heartbreakingly wistful fashion, while “How Could We Dare to Be Wrong” is an eloquent plea to give romance a try. His solo records were also ambitious, as evidenced by the “Quartet” song cycle on his 1972 album Ennismore. The Zombies are once again a recording and touring outfit, and Blunstone is a part of that. But his solo records contain some of his finest work.

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5. Mickey Newbury

Newbury’s songs have been recorded by a who’s who of artists. Interestingly enough, perhaps his most famous work, “American Trilogy,” was an arrangement of three traditionals that Elvis Presley picked up and turned into a showstopper on stage. Meanwhile, Newbury’s own compositions showed off a songwriter with original sensibilities. Many of his songs dare to move at a snail’s pace in terms of how he delivers the lyrics, making the payoff lines all that more impactful when they come. Although he’s considered a country artist by many, the truth is that Newbury’s work translates across all genres. Heck, you can tell just by reading the titles of songs like “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” and “The Future’s Not What it Used to Be” that you’re going to get something special when you listen.

Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns

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