I’ll third John Michael Talbot*, and I’ll also add his brother Terry Talbot.
Terry made a few good ones in the 1970s. When the 80s came, I couldn’t really stomach too much of his stuff.
Phil Keaggy was an awesome guitarist, but, again, in the 80s, I started to cool off on his music.
Paul Clark, and/or Paul Clark and Friends, the first 3 or 4 albums, were great, no, GREAT albums for folk and rock Christian music. Keaggy was on at least 2 of the Songs from the Savior album, and was as good then as many hot guitarists/shredders are today. The “Good to Be Home” album, with Clark and Keaggy, has some totally awesome music on it. The song “Unveiling” has what I consider to be one of the top 5 leads of all time. The band never had the following that it should have, and I think that it was the greatest of all Christian bands, ever.
Barry McGuire, from the 70s.
2nd Chapter of Acts, great, up till about 78 or 79.
Larry Norman, from the late 60s to early 70s.
Randy Stonehill’s album “Welcome to Paradise” was totally awesome, and the guy was/is a musical genius.
Find the Christian album “Firewind”, released around 74-77.
Honeytree, if you can go with the female singer/classical guitarist genre.
Love Song, a band with Chuck Girard as the lead singer. This band was extremely influential; I, however, didn’t overly like them. Not bad, though.
Most, if not all, of these artists, were staples and pioneers in the Jesus People music scene. It was a pity it devolved into CCM.