Bob Dylan began as a Woody Guthrie acolyte, imitating the dust-bowl balladeer as faithfully as a baby boomer from Hibbing, Minnesota, could. It wasn't long before he found his own voice, spearheading the early-1960s folk revival as well as the singer…

Tom Waits started out in the early 1970s as a piano-based barroom balladeer with a penchant for beat poetry and West Coast jazz. By the late '80s he had mutated into a brilliantly adventurous artist whose style suggested an amalgam of Howlin' Wolf, K…

Originally part of the early 1960s British blues/R&B scene, the Rolling Stones rapidly ascended the heights of fame with a perfect combination of hit singles and media-grabbing scandals. By the '70s, Keith Richards had become a bona fide guitar hero,…

In the 1980s Texan singer/songwriter Lyle Lovett was part of the progressive "New Traditionalist" country scene that breathed new life into Nashville. His is a unique mix of country, folk, gospel, and western swing, with lyrics heavily inspired by su…

Chicagoan John Prine burst onto the early '70s singer-songwriter scene amid a flurry of competely justified hype. He was among the first of many artists pegged as "the new Dylan," but his combination of folk, country, and poetic-but-simple lyrics was…

Little Feat was a perfect balance of a soulful singer and songwriter, a funky rhythm section, and innovatively emotive soloists. The balance didn't last, but their finest works remain compelling and timeless.

Like the Band, Neil Young eschewed his Canadian roots to create a sound rooted in American folk and country, which he mixed with visionary, poetic rock in Buffalo Springfield and on his solo albums. He played the crucial fourth wheel role in Crosby, …

Over the course of four decades, Eric Clapton has carried the British blues legacy into the mainstream of pop music. From his mid-1960s days with the Yardbirds and John Mayall, through his years as guitar god with Cream and Blind Faith, and eventuall…

Steve Earle did for country in the 1980s what Waylon Jennings did for it in the '70s--released it from the shackles of commerciality and overproduction by introducing a bad-ass, rock-friendly outlaw aesthetic. Besides his talents as a singer/songwrit…

Joni Mitchell emerged as a darling of the late 1960s folk scene as a lyrically gifted songwriter and honey-voiced golden girl. In the '70s, she went on to incorporate jazz and confessional pop-rock into her musical vision, ultimately creating a poeti…

Though he came out of the '70s Southern California scene and was championed by Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon's music is far more dark and sardonic than that background would suggest. The quintessential troubadour-with-an-attitude, he's sung about guns…

Over the decades, and in various quests to land his audience, the presentation of Hiatt's resilient songs changed to fit the times. Begining in the mid-'70s, he went from singer-songwriter to Elvis Costello-ish rocker to progressive-country/adult alt…

Bruce Springsteen came out of New Jersey in the early 1970s sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and early Tom Waits, backed by the rambunctious E Street Band. After toughening up his sound, Springsteen created his 1975 masterpiece, BORN TO RUN, w…

They began playing traditional Mexican music in their native East L.A. in the mid-'70s, but Los Lobos were galvanized by the California punk movement. By the early '80s they were a rock band to be reckoned with, purveying a highly charged brand of ro…

Singer/guitarist Bonnie Raitt emerged from the Cambridge, MA, coffeehouse scene with a soulful and sexy sound that mixed blues, folk, and rock. After almost two decades in near-obscurity, her impassioned breakthrough into the pop world--1989's NICK O…

The original pop ironist, Randy Newman is also one of the rock era's finest melodists. This is partially because his main musical inspiration lies in pre-rock sources like Charles Ives and Stephen Foster. Despite the arch humor, his songs still pose …

Van Morrison first came to notice as the powerful vocalist of the mid-1960s group Them ("Baby Please Don't Go," "Gloria"), and then with the solo hit "Brown-Eyed Girl." Morrison followed this success with two landmark albums, ASTRAL WEEKS and MOONDAN…

They're known as the founding fathers of Southern rock, but the Allman Brothers were actually much more progressive than the musical school they inspired. They reclaimed the US-influenced blues-rock of Cream et al. and brought it back to America, add…

Johnny Cash was part rockabilly rebel, part campfire storyteller, part outlaw in black. Cash made country and rockabilly history on the Sun label in the 1950s. During the '60s, the ruggedly charismatic Cash rose to superstardom, ending the decade wit…

The Grateful Dead were right there at the birth of the 1960s West Coast psychedelic scene, but they handily incorporated simple folk, blues, and country sounds into their swirling, jam-oriented style. With an endless touring schedule and a huge follo…