WornOldMotorbike wrote:

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Trite material. Hackneyed clichés. Faux-introspection with a lack of genuine insight. Inability to transport the listener anywhere outside their unheated garret/cold-water flat/working-town bedroom. Tendency to emulate their narrow range of influences rather than break new ground. Bad hair.

But, you know, all of those things are immensely difficult to avoid doing or to do at all when you're trying to write music. That's assuming you're writing music because you find it a genuinely pleasurable experience, which most musicians do. On top of that, you've got to find it in you to pen a few lines that express a small part of your life that you potentially don't mind sharing with the general public. I saw this girl play recently in Lisbon, I guess she ticks all the boxes in WOM's list (including bad hair) but it affected me, she's in the early stages of developing her music, she's unsure of herself but I guess it's fun and what not. She's definitely not a tosser in my mind.

I understand where Andy's coming from but it's also undeniable that, long-term, my very favourite artists are most accurately described as singer-songwriters: Dylan, Waits, Springsteen (maybe an exception), Joni, Neil Young, Cohen, Laura Nyro, Jeff Buckley, Tim Hardin, Amy Rigby, Richard Thompson (perhaps an exception), Ferron, Janis Ian, Rickie Lee Jones and they're just the ones that spring readily to mind. It's really a huge basket and one stretching back a good forty-odd years, obviously there's loads of rubbish but IMHO the good ones are really good.

Steveeeeeeee, yeah, I don't mean that a young singer/songwriter shouldn't be given a fair bit of leeway to find their chops and write a few shite songs while they learn. But so much of it sounds just so bloody same.
It's like stand-up comedy: someone watches a guy do "did you ever notice" stuff and realizes "Hey, I notice stuff. Maybe I could be a comedian." Next thing you've got 10,000 guys going "did you ever notice" stuff. I mean, do something novel or just, you know, don't do it.

The problem isn't singer-songwriters, exactly. The problem is earnest signers-with-acoustic -uitars. As soon as there's an arrangement, a different instrument, or a band, you're basically dealing with people who write music and sing. And then you're in the normal world where lots are shit and some are good, just like all music.

But one man (or woman) with nothing but an acoustic guitar, is almost inevitably dour, spectacularly earnest, utterly dreary, more boring than a formal dinner with Gordon Brown. I always start off wanting to like them, and always end up nearly asleep.

I guess this falls under the category of dour Elliot Smith singing Between the Bars But I find it quite beautiful. He is/was definitely one of my favourite songwriters of the last decade or so, great stuff.

On the other hand you could watch this clip of Tom Zé from 1969 which is anything but dull.

Gillian Welch is "a two-person band, one of whom is named Gillian Welch." Gillian Welch's words, not mine.

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Seeing as there is no way that Blunt and, say, Rosie Thomas belong in one category

Twee acoustic singer-songwriters with warbly voices? The fact that she's great and he's terrible doesn't make lumping them together on a basis other than quality unfair.

Oh yes, and;
Not guilty.

Ha, I was almost tempted to leave that...

That's more like it.

Nice Fluevogs, though.

Put me down as a smug tosser then... sigh...

well i'm not that smug, but can't defend myself against being a tosser.

I'm trying to get a band after 4 years of playing solo, honest! I'll use a different name and everything!

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But one man (or woman) with nothing but an acoustic guitar, is almost inevitably dour, spectacularly earnest, utterly dreary, more boring than a formal dinner with Gordon Brown. I always start off wanting to like them, and always end up nearly asleep

You've not listened to the right people then, I suspect.

The generalisations on this thread are quite alarming. It's not good enough to say: "I've heard a lot in my lifetime, so I know" and then condemn, or be indifferent, to a whole swathe of acts. I've mentioned a number of "singer-songwriters". Nobody has explained to me why they or the genre they represent, are so deficient as to be summarily ignored.

There area few Rosie Thomas songs on my blog. Experiment. Try them on and explain how on earth she fits any of the descriptions offered. Or try any of the people I've mentioned on page 1. I suspect even the red lantern might dig some of them.

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I'll use a different name and everything!

Don't be mad, Sam. You've already got fans and 'brand equity'. Go the well worn route of <Sam Huxley> and The E Street Band or <Sam Huxley> and The Attractions or The <Sam Huxley> Project. Plus, that lets 'em know who's boss.

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Trite material. Hackneyed clichés. Faux-introspection with a lack of genuine insight. Inability to transport the listener anywhere outside their unheated garret/cold-water flat/working-town bedroom. Tendency to emulate their narrow range of influences rather than break new ground. Bad hair.

But, you know, all of those things are immensely difficult to avoid doing or to do at all when you're trying to write music.

Well, it's down to a tendency to lack self-awareness and quality control. The reason that the standard tends to go up "as soon as there's an arrangement, a different instrument, or a band" is, largely, that once there's someone else involved it introduces a bit of critical reflection in the process.