Favorite musician(s)


I am first and foremost a song lover. Chords (the importance of which is not taken seriously enough by many songwriters imo. Listen to the changes in "God Only Knows" by Brian Wilson, and "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" by William Weatherspoon, Paul Riser, and James Dean. Glorious!), a melody (or three, if it's a fugue), harmonies, counterpoint if you're really good. For a song to be heard, you usually need some instruments to play it, A cappella being the exception. Different musicians approach the playing of a song in different ways; some view the song as merely the platform from which they express themselves via their particular instrument. Others play their instrument in service to the song itself (and/or the singer and other musicans), their talent at that assessed by how much the song benefits from their playing of it. I am a fan of the latter approach.

The players I like most can be described as "lyrical"---their parts sound like an integral element of the song---it would not be the same song without them. These type players are highly valued by the best songwriters, producers, and singers, and by other musicians who also play via that approach. Rick Hall, owner of the infamous Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, said the members of the studio's house band---The Swampers---all thought like and played as if they were producers. Exactly! When a great song is played by these type musicians, backing a good singer, the results are magical.

My favorite players are guys like Jerry Douglas (dobro), a member of Alison Krauss' Union Station and a first-call Nashville studio player. Ry Cooder and Richard Thompson, master guitarists of course. There are plenty of others, but that's enough outta me. Anyone who wants to add to my short list, may I request we keep it to lyrical/musical players, not "hotshots"? They already get all the attention (and chicks ;-) .

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I think David Rawlings falls squarely into this camp, so very complimentary in adding to the essence of a distinctive voice (his guitar) to Gillian Welch.  In the rock guitar genre I always felt like Mike Campbell contributed in a similar (albeit more subtle) way with Tom petty's band.
Agree 100%, t_e_p. Great choices! Another kindred spirit is Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris' guitarist, bandleader, and harmony singer. He's also a solo artist with a bunch of great albums.
For a non-musician…as myself......

Robert Cray
Blake Mills
Nels Cline
Colin Meloy

I reserve the right to contribute in the future..

Yeesh...talk about an open ended solicitation!

Already some good "nominations". Dozens more to come, probably.

Want to jump on @slaw ’s mention of Nels Cline. I don’t care much for his work with The Nels Cline Singers or Julian Lange BUT if he only played one solo and not another lick ever again, his solo in One Wing is all you need to hear. Tried to find a live non-concert version I’d seen but could not. This track off the album will have to do. That solo begins at 1:52 here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF3pBjPwgtg

If One Wing didn’t convince, try his lengthier solo-ing in Impossible Germany from Sky Blue Sky (though I prefer the stripped down minimalist sensibility of that in One Wing).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_0BPqWpM_M

Thanks to Pokey77 for turning me on to Nels in what seems an improbable role in Wilco given Nels’ prior and on-going work in jazz.

I’ll leave one more (for now)...
Can’t pass up an opportunity to mention Neil Finn as a fantastically gifted song-writer who is blessed as few are with the gift of melody.

Taking a tip from Slaw, I too reserve the right to future contributions.

@ghosthouse ,

For not wanting to take my opinion seriously…………

There was several  paragraphs in similar interest?

Neil Finn, Wow! Actually he was chosen to front the latest version of Fleetwood Mac.