Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Mary Chapin Carpenter...just to list 3 prime choices. And there are hundreds of others one could name along that same line.

Never heard MCC; never seen the appeal in LC (though my father-in-law is a huge fan - used to listen to him when he was a monk...) and I find BD physically painful to listen to, though I confess to having loved his Theme Time Radio Hour. Hundreds of others, eh? I shudder at the thoughts, LH - though my wife routinely plays Judee Sill and Laura Nyro in the car, both of whom seem (to my ears) to occupy a similar ball park, though I could be wrong. Despite her sophicated approach JS seemed overly keen on pandering to the hippy zeitgeist, whilst LN has illusions of soul. Whilst her New York Tendaberry is a truly stunning piece of work I often wonder how things might have turned out if she'd seen eye to eye with Miles. The missus also listens a lot to Jane Siberry too, who's difficult to pin down though never less than fascinating, especially live, where her free-styling approach even within the context of long established songs is most gratifying!

When it comes to singer/songwriters though I go for Scott Walker (including Tilt and The Drift) and Robert Wyatt (as covered by The Unthanks) who are both amazing singers and well worth a mention here. Another great Folk Voice is Dave Cousins (a weakness from childhood I'm afriad) which gets better with age I think. In all three cases I might be moved to READ ALONG with their songs in the lyrics supplied, which function like subtitles maybe, but, as I say, though certain images get through, when I listen to a song I'm rarely bothered what it's actually about, more the actuall sound of the thing.

A classic case was Jaw Bone and the Air Rifle by The Fall, I lived with that for years without a clue. Then one day I stumbled across a book of Fall lyrics and it was a complete revelation. Can I quote a bit here?

The rabbit killer did not eat for a week
And no way he can look at meat
No bottle has he anymore
It could be his mangled teeth
He sees jawbones on the street
Advertisements become carnivores
And roadworkers turn into jawbones
And he has visions of islands, heavily covered in slime
The villagers dance round pre-fabs
And laugh through twisted mouths

Now that's what I call a lyric! Hey - I'd love to hear The Unthanks cover that on a future album - after Sea Song and Starless, what could be more appropriate than doing a song by The Fall?