I have some pretty strong opinions on the general dismissal of Singer/Songwriters as my sister is one. This being the case she often appears on bills with others. I think my sister is very good, but then again, I would.

Some of the others I've seen drive me crazy and I must say that it is primarily the females. They seem to be the ones most prone to singing their diaries, and quite frankly, I'm not all that interested in hearing this accompanied by the same 2 or three chords in the same tempo. (Didn't may dad used to say the same thing about Rock and Roll?)

But there are some very nice exceptions. Susan appeared on a bill with a fellow named Scott Wicken the other night. A quick visit to his Website prepared me for the worst, a singer/songwriter AND a spoken word performer. I had visions of Bongo drums, incense and finger snapping. How completety wrong you can be. His music and lyrics were extremely well crafted, he was a very good and diverse player and had a fine voice. Poetry usually sends me scrambling to the men's room, but the one he did was witty, fast paced and had excellent meter. Susan also played a festival a few years back and Norm Hacking was on the bill. I had never heard him prior to this and was very impressed.

I guess what I'm saying is that we shouldn't paint them all with the same brush. Let's keep our ears open, we may find something worth listening to.