Best American Singer-Songwriter

[Anung Un Rama]

Damnit; forgot Petty.

 

[NikkiNeversleep]

Summer, Highland Falls

One of the greatest songs of all time.

"But we choose between reality and madness, it's either sadness or euphoria….♪♫•*¨*•.ღ"

 

[CrimsonFan]

Willie Nelson belongs on this list

 

[CrimsonFan]

I love steve miller personally

 

[Medical Marijuana Man]

I like Diamond and Cash the most on this list

 

[Plissken]

Cash and John Fogerty.

 

[ssBaldy]

I like Cash and he emphasises American spirit the most to me.

 

[tru3f4n]

 

[ralphc1]

The singer-songwriter combination is the tricky part. Dylan is probably the best songwriter but not the best singer. Tom Petty was a great songwriter along with Paul Simon, but not the best voices. Springsteen, Diamond, Mellencamp and Joel are great writers with great voices but so are Chapin and Fogerty. I couldn't pick one so I chose other.

 

[TeTe]

Tough choice but I went with Billy Joel

 

[Anung Un Rama]

dude wrote this when he was 16...

 

[MadSquabbles500]

I like John Mellencamp. His music had beat/groove, and a message

Billy Joel is overrated. His songwriting and singing are pedestrian. He is like the guy singing in the subway, at your kids birthday or the bar/lounge singer who so happened to know someone in the music industry. You can literally get anyone to pull off Billy Joel's schtick.

Billy Joel is basically Long Island's version of Bruce Springsteen.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

I like John Mellencamp. His music had beat/groove, and a message

Billy Joel is overrated. His songwriting and singing are pedestrian. He is like the guy singing in the subway, at your kids birthday or the bar/lounge singer who so happened to know someone in the music industry. You can literally get anyone to pull off Billy Joel's schtick.

Billy Joel is basically Long Island's version of Bruce Springsteen.

His song writing is top notch.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

 

[Kingz]

Lou Reed

Not saying he’s the best but he deserves mention.

 

[Kraysla]

Glenn Danzig is my favorite, so i'm going with him.

 

[Fugitive Pete]

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

Zandt or Dylan, tough choice.

Everyone who hasn't should listen to Mister Mudd and Mister Gold

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

Damn, didn't realize Stevens was a Brit. My mistake.

You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know

 

[jrams]

This performance always makes me sad.

The October 30th, 2002 show one of the most emotional Letterman broadcasts ever, but Zevon did his best to keep things light. “I might have made a tactical error by not going to a physician for 20 years,” he said. “I have a form of lung cancer that spread. It means you better get your dry cleaning done on special.” He also talked about his in-progress album The Wind, which came out the following August. “They certainly don’t discourage you from doing whatever you want,” he said. “It’s not like bed rest and a lot of water will straighten you out.”

Zevon had no plans to tour at this point, so he knew that his live renditions of “Mutineer,” “Genius” and “Roland the Headless Gunner” (played at Letterman’s request) would probably be his final public performances. Many in the audience probably had trouble maintaining their composure, but Zevon never wavered. He was absolutely brilliant.

“After the show, it was heartbreaking — he was in his dressing room,” Letterman told Rolling Stonein 2008. “We were talking and this and that. Here’s a guy who had months to live and we’re making small talk. And as we’re talking, he’s taking his guitar strap and hooking it, wrapping it around, then he puts the guitar into the case and he flips the snaps on the case and says, ‘Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it.’ And I just started sobbing. He was giving me the guitar that he always used on the show. I felt like, ‘I can’t be in this movie, I didn’t get my lines.’ That was very tough.”