Singer-songwriter

The term singer-songwriter is a somewhat nebulous term for musicians that has different meanings to different people in different geographic areas. Foremost, singer-songwriters must write the lyrics and compose the music for the majority of the songs they perform, sometimes, as during the early career of Bob Dylan, as a solo act. The term is also much more associated with folk music, and performers who play acoustic guitars, than other musical forms. The term is used to describe female performers much more often than male singers, and relatively unknown artists, although many go on to great acclaim. Most popular singers, including Elvis Presley and Britney Spears, for example, are singers, but not singer-songwriters, even if they occassionally write songs. Most country music stars, even those who write all of their own lyrics, do not generally call themselves singer-songwriters, perhaps with the exception of Tom T. Hall, while Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison, Neil Sedaka, and Carole King were singer-songwriters years before the expression became fashionable in the late sixties. As a group, singer-songwriters tend to cover serious and emotional matters more than light-hearted material more fashionable in pop music.

Some of the early singer-songwriters include Joan Baez, who was Dylan's girlfriend while he was making his name, John Stewart (of the Kingston Trio), Townes Van Zandt, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Van Morrison, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom T. Hall, Neil Young, John Prine, Tim Buckley, Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico. More recent singer-songwriters include Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffith, K. D. Lang, Tracy Chapman, Jeff Buckley (son of Tim), Sarah McLachlan, Dar Williams, Ani DiFranco, Sheryl Crow, Hayes Carll, and Alanis Morisette.