“Fifty years have passed in a flash,” says pianist, songwriter, and vocalist Marcia Ball. Ball, the 2018 Texas State Musician Of The Year, has won worldwide fame and countless fans for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse party every time she takes the stage. Born in Orange, Texas and raised in Vinton, Louisiana, her Acadian heritage and a lifetime of absorbing Gulf Coast rhythm and blues is evident in her original songs and the classics she chooses to cover. This has made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music lovers all over the world.
Quit giving in inch by inch then looking back to lament the mile behind ya and wonder how to preserve those few feet left in front of ya. They'll never stop until they're stopped. That's a fact.
I have many. But James McMurtry resonates with me the most. He does the pickin' too.
Love his dad's work as well.
When I saw the thread title, I thought of one name. .Not many as good as him as far as lyricists. "Evocative" doesn't do his songs justice, tons of great song, i'm surprised people don't cover his songs. First started listening in the mid-90's on KSYM in San Antonio, a college station. No one else was playing his stuff.
Here are a couple of my favorites. LOL, one of the few brave enough to use the "N word" in a song:
In 1966 Kris was living in Nashville. He was just another broke rookie songwriter, working as a janitor at a recording studio. Every ten days, he drove to New Orleans. He had a part time job, to fly workers out to the oil platforms in the Gulf. Boring job, he called the Gulf "The Bathtub" because flying out there was about as exciting as taking a bath.
He did have an agent there in Nashville. One night at a Nashville party, the agent said "Here ya go Kris. Me And Bobby McGee. This is your next song. The name Bobby can be either for a guy, or for a girl, get it?" Kris said WTF? and ignored the guy.
A month later Kris ran into his agent again, and the guy said "Well have you written Me And Bobby McGee yet? You better get to work!" Tired of being nagged by his agent, on those long boring flights over the Gulf, Kris wrote the song.
In no particular order: Hank Cochran Hank Williams John Prine Steve Goodman Guy Clark Willie Nelson Tom T Hall Bobby Bare Chris Stapleton Merle Haggard I m sure I left a bunch out. Love it when someone says something profound in a few words. Love storytelling songs. I worked with Bob Ferguson on the Rez here in Mississippi. He wrote “On the Wings of a Snow White Dove” and others. Look him up. I’m impressed with creativity and leaving a legacy behind. Royalty checks are nice too.
Robert Earl Keene-- anyone who can rhyme a lyric with ". . .and she came around the corner with a single-shot .410" has my vote as the greatest bard since Shakespeare.
Pauline T. -- She wrote the hymn, "How can I Keep from Singing." back in 1868. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Can_I_Keep_from_Singing%3F
I sang a version of that when I rang the bell at the end of Chemo.
It was about a year after one of my best friends had us all out for a drink and told us he was terminal. If you ever have to share one of those drinks, you'll know.
Lastly, Dafydd Iwan Jones , the guy who wrote "Yma o hyd" . Coming from a long line of Welshmen on my mother's side, I find it about as stirring a song as you will find.
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