Singer-Songwriter

The music business during the 1960s was closely controlled by the major record labels. They would decide what musicians and performers to support and publish. They would decide how to promote records and to whom. They would also select the producers and the studio musicians; usually without any form of published credit on the records, sleeves or inserts. Groups like the Monkees were made up of talented musicians that would perform live, in concert, but would not be playing their own music on their records. For the most part, the public was not aware of this. The listening public assumed the groups were playing on their own albums.

As the Beatles rose to fame, they gained more and more control over the production, recording and advertising promotion of their product. As the 1960s progressed, more and more groups began to emerge as their own musicians on the records. As the decade came to a close, individual composers, groups and performers were expected to be the artists of their own work: musician, poet, composer, producers and performers.

Singer-songwriters are artists who performs their own material, usually written from their unique point of view. The singer-songwriter movement, categorized by its acoustic instrumentation and insightful, personal lyrics, flourished in the 1970s, but its oversized influence continues to be felt today.

For decades, pop songwriters were hired guns, looking to craft a catalog of hits. Songwriters banged out tunes for publishers to give to other musicians to perform. Often, they’d write with a particular artist in mind, to highlight their strengths. In New York City’s Brill Building, professional songwriters like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Neild Diamond churned out radio hits for girl groups and teen idols.

During the ‘60s, Bob Dylan and The Beatles wrote songs that defied the norms of what could be considered commercial pop music. Their innovative experimentation and rejection of formula inspired other artists to express new ideas and emotions.

Folk icon Woody Guthrie and Country music legend Hank Williams were two prolific singer-songwriters who influenced countless artists. Their music had an attractive air of authenticity, as they sang songs that were seemingly about their own lives, thoughts and feelings.
The Folk Revival of the early ‘60s established that the most authentic music could be made by solo performers using acoustic instruments. The idea of performing acoustically and expressing your inner-most thoughts became an attractive lure. New voices like Leonard Cohen, Janis Ian, Fred Neil and Tim Hardin began to emerge, leading to the era of the singer-songwriter.

The growing movement inspired artists in other genres, such as country and soul, to write their own truths. Otis Redding and Dolly Parton began writing more varied and personal songs, as did Van Morrison and Willie Nelson. Carole King pursued her own career as an artist, and released Tapestry in 1971. The album won four Grammy Awards and has sold over 30 million copies to date.

Bob Dylan’s Long Road

With his unconventional voice and knack for turning a good phrase, Bob Dylan created the template for the singer-songwriter. In the movie Don’t Look Back, Dylan can be seen furiously composing songs on a typewriter.

Dylan grew up in rural Minnesota absorbing the rock music of the 1950s, before turning his attention to the music of the folk and blues revival. Dylan idolized Woody Guthrie. At 19, he journeyed to New York City, where he befriended the ailing folksinger. Dylan participated in the vibrant and commercially viable folk scene emanating from New York City’s Greenwich Village. He was signed to Columbia Records on his strength as an interpreter of old folk and blues songs. However, his 1962 debut album did contain two originals; “Talkin’ New York,” about his struggles to gain a foothold in the music industry, and “Song To Woody.” The latter borrowed the melody from Guthrie’s “1913 Massacre,” but it showcased Dylan’s uncanny ability as a songwriter to evoke emotion.

In 1963, Bob Dylan struck gold when he wrote “Blowin’ In The Wind,” a philosophical song that became the anthem of the Vietnam War protest movement. Dylan’s manager brought the song to folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary, who turned it into a top 5 hit. Dylan was suddenly in demand as a songwriter, and “Blowin’ In The Wind” was recorded hundreds of times. Dylan followed up with “The Times They Are A Changin’,” another topical song that struck a chord with the masses. Dylan became a household name, and his lyrics were pored over like Shakespeare sonnets. By his fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, Dylan had lost interest in writing topical songs for others to connect with. Instead, he wrote autobiographical songs like “Ballad of Plain D,” a pained recounting of his relationship with Joan Baez.

The Beatles were devotees of Bob Dylan. The folk rocker introduced them to marijuana upon their first meeting in 1964, which inspired them to change their approach to songwriting and recording. They wrote songs in his style, like “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” and “Norwegian Wood,” and penned emotionally pointed songs like “Help!” in his image.

From the beginning, The Beatles were songwriting savants. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote around 180 songs during the band’s heyday. Their success inspired other musicians, from the Rolling Stones to The Who, to try their hand at songwriting, changing the pop music landscape.

In 1968, the Beatles formed Apple Records, in part to promote new talent. One of the first artists they signed was James Taylor, a young singer-songwriter from North Carolina who had spent time in a mental institution. Taylor wrote his defining hit, 1970’s “Fire And Rain,” about his struggles with mental health and heroin addiction.

The 1970s were the commercial pinnacle of the singer-songwriter. Artists like Randy Newman, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Carole King, Laura Nyro, Leonard Cohen and Jackson Browne dissected relationships in their music with songs that became pop radio hits. The Eagles and John Denver performed sensitive love songs in large arenas across the country.

Neil Young, a veteran of 60’s bands like Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, altered between acoustic and electric output, and earned a reputation as a master songwriter. Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan’s lyrical equal, explored jazz and new chord voicings on albums like Hejira and Blue. Randy Newman, who came from a family of Hollywood composers, wrote sardonic piano anthems like “Short People.” Neil Diamond, once a songwriter behind the scenes, became a multi-platinum performer with hits like “Sweet Caroline” and “Cracklin’ Rosie.”

Following the communal lyrics of the rock music of the 1960s, the pop music of the 1970s embraced personal storytelling. After the Beatles’ breakup, Lennon focused on confessional songs inspired by primal scream therapy, like “Mother” and “God.” Paul Simon’s first post-Simon and Garfunkel album contained songs about growing older, like “Run That Body Down” and “Everything Put Together Falls Apart.”

Bob Dylan continued to reinvent his lyrical approach while hopping genres. His albums from the 1970s included the pastoral, domestic New Morning, the nostalgic Planet Waves, the acoustic divorce song cycle Blood on the Tracks, and the mystical gypsy-rock of Desire. Dylan ended the decade with an album of songs about his newfound Christianity.

In 1973, Bruce Springsteen was one of many budding singer-songwriters being labeled “The Next Bob Dylan.” He was signed by the same Columbia Records agent as Dylan, and his first two albums feature a similar lyrical style. By 1984, the “Born In the USA” singer had refined his songwriting to be extremely personal, yet universal enough to sustain a superstar career. He was the first singer-songwriter to be featured on the cover of Time and Newsweek simultaneously. Springsteen shared the ‘80s pop charts with Billy Joel, a piano-playing hit machine who learned how to write songs from listening to the Beatles.

Springsteen’s 1980s rise coincided with a renewed interest in acoustic music (Springsteen would often perform Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” solo in concert, and released the stark, solo acoustic Nebraska album in 1982.)

Tracy Chapman penned one of the 80’s most enduring songs with the acoustic ballad “Fast Car.” In 2023, rising country star Luke Combs released a country version of “Fast Car,” and performed it with Chapman as a duet at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

In 1994, while Grunge raged on the radio, an unassuming singer-songwriter named Lisa Loeb had a massive hit with the folky, acoustic love song “Stay.” Her success would be replicated by Jewel (“Who Will Save Your Soul”) in 1995, Shawn Colvin (“Sunny Came Home”) in 1997, and Norah Jones (“Come Away With Me”) in 2002.

In the 2020s, singer-songwriters became big business. Taylor Swift began her career as a country artist, before transitioning into futuristic pop and dance music. Swift’s narrative songwriting hooked millions of listeners, and helped turn her into the highest-paid musician of all time. Swift’s success was paralleled by Ed Sheeran, an Irish-singer-songwriter who writes and performs his multi-platinum-selling songs on a travel-size acoustic guitar. Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan and Post Malone all turned individual expression into pop superstardom.

There have been several venues associated with the singer-songwriter genre.

The Bitter End, New York City

In addition to holding influential folk music Hootenannies in the early ‘60s, the club hosted early performances from The Lovin’ Spoonful (who influenced the Beatles with their 7 top ten hits), Neil Young, James Taylor, and Bruce Springsteen. According to lore, both Young and Taylor bombed during their performances.

The Bottom Line, New York City (1974 – 2004)

This 400-seat Greenwich Village venue hosted everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Lou Reed to Linda Rondstadt and Billy Joel. Springsteen performed 10 legendary shows there in 1975, to preview his Born To Run album, back when he was in danger of being dropped from his record label for poor sales. Columbia invited scores of industry insiders to watch him perform with the E Street Band. “It was our coming out party,” Springsteen later remarked. “And some sort of transformation occurred over those five nights. We walked out of that place in a different place.”

The Sidewalk Cafe, New York City (1985-2019)

This now-shuttered club on Avenue A in the East Village held the longest-running open mic in the city. It attracted outsider musicians, who collectively made up the genre dubbed Anti-Folk. Beck and Michelle Shocked played there in the early days. Regina Spektor, The Moldy Peaches, Jeffrey Lewis and an unknown Lady Gaga performed there in its heyday.

The Bluebird Cafe, Nashville, Tennessee

The cafe that launched the career of a million songwriters. It was opened in 1982 by a former waitress who had come into money, who agreed to let her friends perform at her new eatery. By 1985, it was hosting hit songwriters performing in the round, a tradition that continues to this day. Garth Brooks, Kathy Mattea, and Taylor Swift were all offered record contracts after performing at the club.

Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, New York

Almost all of the coffee houses that launched the NYC folk music revival have gone out of business; including Bob Dylan’s old haunts Gerde’s Folk City, The Gaslight Cafe, and the original Kettle of Fish. However, this folk venue 183 miles north of New York City has been booking singer-songwriters since 1960. Famous names who have passed through “America’s oldest coffee house” at the start of their career include Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Don McClean, Tom Paxton, Arlo Guthrie and Ani DiFranco.

The Troubadour, Los Angeles

This West Hollywood club opened in 1957, and helped launch the careers of Tom Waits (during his jazz singer period), Elton John and James Taylor. It was at the Troubadour that Bob Dylan first got onstage with an electric band for a jam session in 1964. The following year, Dylan made his legendary, controversial electric debut at the Newport Folk Festival. In 1965, the Byrds, who’d all met at the Troubadour open mic, performed their electric version of Dylan’s “Mister Tambourine Man” for the first time.

Cafe Largo, Los Angeles

This LA club has been cultivating a thriving arts scene since 1989. Producer and singer-songwriter Jon Brion became synonymous with the club, booking appearances by his friends Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, and Elliott Smith. Other artists who have performed there include Rickie Lee Jones, Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds and (Bob’s son) Jakob Dylan. The venue, which was named “LA’s Best Supper Club” in 1990, has also hosted famous comedians like Larry David and Tig Notaro.