This could take a while:

Probably at the very top: Ian Tyson. He (with Sylvia)was one of the people that originally turned me on to folk music. Then he turned me on to new cowboy music 30 years later, in a whole new incarnation.

Tom Russell: My all-time favorite songwriter. One of the most underrated writers in the medium, because he writes Knife and Whore Songs in a time when everyone wants New Age songs about their feelings.

Stan Rogers: My next favorite songwriter. What a f***ing waste....

Jim Ringer: Anotherf***ing waste. Like Stan, came along while folk music was in a slump, and I was mostly listening to Willie and Waylon and Emmylou and them. He had already drank himself to death before I ever discovered him.

Joan Baez I have a very clear memory of seeing her first Newport appearance with Bob Gibson on the Teevee. I babbled for days. I was in love for a couple of years. Later, I fell out of love for political reasons, but the damage had been done.

Doc Watson. I used to tell people he was God, 30 years ago. It took them this long to figure out I was right. Thing is, it's been that same 30 years and I still haven't gotten Black Mountain Rag up to speed, without errors....

Roberts and Barrand and Mangsen, Hills and Herdsman. As noted above, my favorite harmony singers for their respective sexes. I'm also thankful to R&B for turning me on to the Peter Bellamy settings of Kipling's poems.

More in a sequel, as they occur to me...

Peter.