Best American music of the last 25 years?

Speaking of Mary Gauthier (who DID debut within the past 25 years), Anne Johnson has a short but sweet feature article on her in the latest issue (no. 164) of the PS Audio online mag Copper, a favorite read of mine. In the same issue is Part 2 of an article on Shelby Lynne, another fine singer/songwriter.

It’s seems like a lot of younger music fanatics think in terms of bands, rather than solo artists. As you get older, you learn that it is often the songwriter in a band that makes them good, not the band itself. Many songwriters who start out in bands eventually end up going solo, then choosing the musicians they want to record their songs with.

Can you imagine Randy Newman being in a band? ;-) John Hiatt made his professional debut as a member of White Duck, whose sole album In Season (UNI 73140) is fairly rare and collectible. My copy is not for sale ;-) .

@cincyjim: Though two of your nominees fit the bill artistically, Roy Orbison died in 1988, Gram Parsons in 1973. Quite a bit longer than 25 years ago! 

Ooh, good ones @slaw. I should have included Mary Gauthier, whom I had the pleasure of seeing live in a small Portland club last year. She was fantastic (very funny, and a good story teller), just her voice, her acoustic guitar (she’s a very effective player---very dynamic), and her wonderful songs. She was joined on harmony vocals on some songs by the woman whom often opens for her on the road (as on this night), don’t remember her name.

But for Pete’s sake, how could I forget Levon Helm?! After leading The Band following the departure of J.R. Robertson, and following the deaths of Band pianist/singer/songwriter Richard Manuel and bassist/singer/songwriter Rick Danko, Levon recorded and released two albums, Dirt Farmer in 2007 and Electric Dirt in 2009, both winning him Grammy Awards. Not bad for an Arkansas hillbilly. ;-)

When I feel like listening to more complex music, it’s often baroque era Classical for me. Try following the musical lines of the four harpsichord’s in J.S. Bach’s concerto for they and orchestra. Bach’s chord progressions (with modulations and use of inversion) have more in common with what you hear in, for instance, Brian Wilson’s "God Only Knows", than are the often pedestrian chord progressions in many modern Jazz songs. Of course Bach was not American, and his music is far older than 25 years. ;-)

A major musical love of mine is vocal harmonies, very rare in jazz music, which is predominantly instrumental. But see, in the playing of many musicians, when they are providing accompaniment for a vocalist, I hear them just itching to get to their solo section of the song. The musicians I love are not thinking about their upcoming solo, but rather about the song, and how their playing can add to the music.

Danny Gatton was a guitarist (R.I.P.) greatly respected by Jazz, Blues, Rockabilly, and Hillbilly musicians. Vince Gill made a compilation tape of Danny’s playing, and when he felt his road band was getting a little too cocky/self-satisfied, he would put the tape on the tour bus sound system. He named the tape "The Humbler". ;-) If you like the guitar playing of Jeff Beck, you should hear Danny Gatton.

Another band I should have included is NRBQ, a true American treasure. Their music contains elements drawn from 1950’s Rock ’n’ Roll and Rockabilly (they made an album with Carl Perkins), Country & Western, Blues, Avantgarde Jazz (keyboardist Terry Adams is a big fan of Thelonius Monk and Sun Ra), Pop, Show Tunes, and everything else you can name. When David Sanborn had them on his TV show, he introduced them as "The best Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the world." They were that, but much more.

"seems kinda lame and simple". And there you have why I have always found Frank Zappa and Steely Dan so not to my liking. As if complexity alone denotes quality. Give me "God Only Knows" and "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" any day of the week.

"All sound and fury, signifying nothing". Except for look at me, aren’t I smart and/or talented. Gratuitous displays of empty virtuosity, as I am wont to say. See, I’m smart too. ;-)

"No matter how I struggle and strive, I’ll never get out of this world alive." I call Hank Williams the Hillbilly Genius, yet Buddy Rich, as big a Jazz snob as there has ever been, dismissed all Country & Western music as beneath him. F Buddy Rich, no matter how fast and even he could play a double-stroke roll. Big deal. He played in service to his ego, not a great song.

Not that I’m against smart musicianship. Jim Keltner’s playing reveals a great degree of intelligence. But I love what George Harrison said to Jim, as Jim disclosed in an interview: "You don’t have to say everything you think." Leon Russell asked Elton John to dismiss Keltner during the recording sessions of the album they were making together. "He reacts to everything he hears" is how Leon characterized Jim’s playing. As many Jazz great have said, "The notes you don’t play are as important as those you do." That’s called musical wisdom, a quality I value above talent alone.

Like Hank Williams, Levon Helm was a hillbilly. Yet he was as wise a musician as I have ever heard. And, like all my other favorite musicians, he played in service to the song, as noble a calling as I am aware of.

Oops, right you are @larsman! And Leonard Cohen is Canadian, but at least that's "North" American. ;-)

Damn, I left out Los Lobos, Steve Earle, and Gillian Welch as well. Richard Thompson, too. Who says there’s no good music being made anymore?! A couple of guys I know who are stuck in 1966 ;-) .

@rpeluso: Your reminder of Merle Haggard compels me to admit I failed to keep up with this major American artist in his later years. And to admit that I had forgotten---but was reminded by other posters in this thread---of the last series of albums Johnny Cash recorded, perhaps the best of his life.

But how on Earth did I neglect to include Bob Dylan?! I fully understand those who can’t tolerate his current "craggy" voice, but that doesn’t in the least bother me. His 2000’s albums are amongst my favorites of his, and that’s saying a lot.

His early-2000 show at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood was one of my lifetime favorites, and I’ve attended many. I had last seen Dylan ten years earlier, and he was dreadful (so was his 3-pc. band), amongst the worst of my life. Oh that Bob! ;-)

Iris Dement, Lucinda Williams, Buddy & Julie Miller, Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Rodney Crowell, Jim Lauderdale, Marty Stuart, Loudon Wainwright III, Leonard Cohen. Master songwriters, singers, musicians. Who needs bands? ;-)