He matured. It sounds like you want him to remain forever the angry young punk of 1977. (Yes, of course he was never actually a punk, but he rode that bandwagon.) It’s true that he doesn’t rock like he did then. But the thread is about songwriting, and in that craft he has gone from strength to strength over the years, producing work to this day that is deeper and more sophisticated than ever.
Well you’re just wrong about Elvis Costello, samjones. (Now stick with the song until the bridge. Something tells me that will be your favorite part.)
I think this is the problem with the whole premise of this thread. Anyone who tries to stay doing what they do at 19 when they’re 35 will probably fail, but some fans of musicians want them to never change.
samjones, can you honestly say this is not what you’re doing?
Nope. I’m not “doing” anything but posting.
Tom Waits has performed for 4 decades to more-or-less the same audience and more-or-less the same high quality original music.
I don’t care to argue with the Deadheads (one of which I am not), but I would humbly suggest that Jerry and the Gang did pretty much the same thing. Over a 20+ year span the quality of their music may have been up and down but never really diminished over the course of time.
I’m just wondering if people can think of other musicians or musical acts like that.
I, and others, have posted a good number that we think are like that. Another example - I’m currently listening to the joint Calexico/Iron & Wine album, recorded when most of the participants were in their 30s, and as good as anything either band has done. I’m simply wondering if there’s a reason you tend to prefer earlier stuff.
A related question for you - are there any musicians where you disliked their early stuff but prefered their later?
Sheryl Crow was also at her peak in her 30’s 
Her self-titled album is actually pretty darn good.
I mean, if you’re that desperate for more Elvis Costello records circa 1977, there’s good news! Tons and tons and tons of young musicians hock his style as hard as they can. Whew, that was close. Now you can pretend to enjoy Elvis Costello while actually avoiding his decades-long career.
At first I thought Freddie Mercury would qualify, being that he was already 27 by the time Queen’s first (so-so) album came out, but alas, he did his best work right around (mostly before) his 30th birthday.
It seems to be a theme. They write pretty good stuff in their early 20’s. They write their best stuff (and alot of it) between about 27 and 30 and then they never write anything worth a shit again.
Maybe I should have opened this thread in GQ - but I know that the one of the moderator’s knees would have jerked and it would have wound right up here anyway.
There are exceptions. Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows started late and the quality of his work didn’t diminish. He took forever to release albums, but I would say all of CC’s albums are basically high-quality writing.
Do these exceptions only prove the rule or are their enough that they prove that there is no rule?
In the same general Freddy Mercury vein, Vince Clark and Martin Gore (Depeche Mode)- neither did anything worth a shit after 30.