Beatles...I channeled their accents until I couldn't talk any other way, for a while!! I was still young enough to sing all the harmonies, then...sigh...

Peter, Paul, and Mary...(album 1700, in particular, because the songs were all so different, yet good!! Also, their Live, in Concert...)

Love...(Cmaj7, Fmaj7 chords in a "rock" song? Wow!! Who'da thunk it?) Way before their time... [Linked Image]

Leo Kotke...How does he do that!!?? An example of who to listen to when one starts feeling big-headed about their guitar playing...humbling!!

Tim Hardin...An archtype singer/songwriter..."If I Were a Carpenter" was his worst song--(can you say, "Irony"?) I think his most beautiful is "Misty Roses", which I've been trying to play/sing for years now, with no luck...

Tim Buckley...Sad, beautiful poet with soaring voice..his best--"Happy Sad"

John Prine--he is only one of two songwriters who actually wrote a song that "makes me cry, Pa!!" ("There's a hole in Daddy's arm, where all the money goes")

Hot Tuna (Acoustic)...They were my first exposure to acoustic blues.

Jefferson Airplane..."After Bathing at Baxter's" contains one of the best jams I've ever heard--"Spare Chaynge". They were also a force for peace in the world...a dirty word, these days, it seems sometimes...

Jimi Hendrix..."Are You Experienced?"--I had to buy this LP THREE times...wore it out!!! ("Third Stone From the Sun" is my favorite)

Ventures/Beach Boys...What can I say, I love surf music? The harmonies of the Wilsons--my fav is "Surfer Girl" (not "Pet Sounds", so shoot me!!)

Mothers of Invention/Frank Zappa..."We're Only In It For the Money" should be required listening for anyone who gets starstruck by the Beatles, as I was...great satire, right down to the album cover.

The Fugs..."It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest"...another great satire band...

Pentangle..."Basket of Light" Awesome English folk music...alternate tunings?

The list goes on...should be more like top 100 or so...

"No man is an island...
he's a peninsula...