I come to you, Dopers, for this type of thing. I and a friend are playing a game. We email each other at least once a day with a song that the other probably hasn’t heard of but should check out. This went on for months and recently ended. That means I’m missing my new music fill lately. I come to you asking (begging humbly?) for ideas.
I will say that some of my favorites include Guster, Carbonleaf, Jack Johnson, and things of the like. I also enjoy Brand New, My Chemical Romance, and other random stuff.
Also, local unknown bands are great, as long as they have a webpage or something so music is check-out-able…
Not being too familiar with most of the artists in your OP, I’ve no idea how similar our tastes are but I asked for some music suggestions two months ago and got numerous replies that I’ve still not fully explored. There’s some good stuff in there, though.
Some links in approximate order of current preference:
How about my favorite artist of all time, Warren Zevon? In order of greatness, try:
Warren Zevon Excitable Boy Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School Sentimental Hygiene The Wind Mr. Bad Example Life’ll Kill Ya My Ride’s Here Mutineer
They’re all great CDs, and Mr. Zevon is still one of most most unheralded singer/songwriters around. He should have been up there with Dylan and Springsteen in the public consciousness. The first two CD’s I mentioned above are absolute classics - and probably available at bargain basement prices.
For mellower folk music, you might try John Prine. Get his first CD, “John Prine” (It has a picture of him sitting on a hay bale). It’s one of the best folk-rock albums ever made. Almsot every song on it has become a standard - “Sam Stone”, “Donald and Lydia”, “Hello in There”, “Illegal Smile”, “Angel from Montgomery”, “Paradise”… It’s one of my favorite albums, ever.
brendon_small:[ol]
I would suggest:
[li]Death Cab For Cutie[/li][li]Neko Case (Fox Confessor… is the new one)[/li][li]Nick Drake (depressing, but truly great)[/li][li]Matthew Sweet[/li][li]Whiskeytown (now defunct, but Ryan Adam’s initial venture)[/li][li]Uncle Tupelo (!!!)[/li][li]Son Volt (stole my screen name from them, I did!)[/li][/ol]
I’d go for Our Endless Numbered Days for sure, if just for the song “Cinder and Smoke”. It’s the kind of song to listen to late at night when the streetlights’ shadows push and pull across the dash of a moving car.
The Jayhawks recommendation is a good one. I often find their cds when I’m looking through used cds at stores that sell them. There are some stores here called Half Price Books that I like to check out the used cds at.
I’d also recommend Glen Phillips, who was the singer for Toad the Wet Sprocket. You can find one of his songs in the media section of his website, and there are four more on his myspace page. Plus he’s got a ton of demos and live versions of his songs for free download here and elsewhere on the site.