Hank Williams
Townes Van Zandt
Bob Dylan


New artists that falls here I've been digging;
Ryan Bingham.

I like a lot of singer/songwriters, but my favorite will always be Elliott Smith. He's the guy that got me into singer/songwriters so for me he deserves the credit.

Elliott Smith
Damien Rice
Leonard Cohen
Bob Dylan
Frank Turner

Townes Van Zandt would be my favourite I think. I also dig Jose Gonzalez, love his voice and minimalist style.

I'm just gonna round up five off the top of my head...

Emmylou Harris
More known for being a singer than a songwriter, but I think she deserves a mention here anyway. Apart from having a real grip on what makes country rock work in her earlier career, she's got a hell of a voice which really gives her work a very warm and unique vibe. Plus her dabblings in a more alt-rock style (for want of a better phrase) in the 90s and early 2000s are just brilliant.

Townes Van Zandt
Our Mother the Mountain is not only my favourite gothic americana album of all time (as well as one of the earliest), it's also one of those albums I'd recommend to absolutely anyone, regardless of whatever standing you may have on something that has the word 'country' associated with it. The guy really knew how to pull off a very dark, desolate kinda vibe with his music to perfection too.

Elvis Costello
Fairly obvious coming from me. He's got one of those voices you either love or hate, and for me it gives his music a fairly unique edge and sense of character, which are basically the two things I look for in all music. As well as having a real talent for the lyric, he's never been afraid to try something new to him - two more ways for an artist to work their way into my good books.

Leonard Cohen
The king of the downbeat, utterly miserable vibe. That said, there are quite a few songs of his I can think of that are actually fairly uplifting. Anyway, the man could very well be my favourite lyricist of all time, and while he lacks that one end-to-end classic album for me (although three or four of them come very close), any poem of his given the musical treatment just gives off such an atmosphere. It's hard to explain why, but I love him to bits.

Scott Walker
My favourite singing voice of all time, bar none. Plus, he went from this to this over the years - 'nuff said.

Anthony Green, Good Old War, Conor Oberst and I know there are others that are my favorites in this genre but I can't think of them at the moment.

Excellent choices with Scott Walker and Cohen, big fan of Nick Cave as well who's deeply influenced by both. If we're talking strictly folk though then I like to give Joan Baez a listen :)

I think Frank Turner is probably my favourite at the moment, but it varies! I really like his voice and style :)

Tim Buckley - Maybe not the best song-writer ever, but non-tee-less one of the best vocalists ever, ever.

Nick Drake - His charming, nature inspired lyrics and soft, angelic like voice are great for those rainy days and summer nights. I really dig his weird tunings too, I mean for a song-writer he was a pretty damn good guitar player.

Kurt Heasley - Stream of conscious genius is he, he'll write a song that sounds like no other lyrically, but sound like every other fucking band sonically (not that it's a bad thing).

I love Jose Gonzalez. I think it's the minimalistic quality that I like best. Same with a lot of Damien Rice's material. The fact that they seem to do so much with so little...

Regina Spektor would be another one of my favourites. 'Chemo Limo' is just f*cking fantastic. Though I've been told by others that she's an acquired taste.