I have many. But James McMurtry resonates with me the most. He does the pickin' too.

Love his dad's work as well.

Two of his best:

John Lennon

Bob Dylan

Willie Nelson

Townes Van Zandt

Robert Earl Keen

Eminem

Kris K with TomT as a very close second.
RB

Bob Seger... for starters...

Townes

One is John Newton.

Franz Schubert

Randy Newman makes my short list.

A one very special Ms Taylor Swift.

Cole Porter and Irving Berlin were not what you'd call "chopped chicken liver," either.

L.W.

No, Wait!... Al Yankovic...

Jimmy Webb

Jim Steinman

Bernie Taupin
John Prine
Lyle Lovett
Van Morrison
Warren Zevon
Paul Simon
are a few that come mind

John Prine

I like a lot from team Slipknot.

Donald Maurice Pears

John Hiatt and Warren Zevon.

lest we forget Ray Stevens... "it's me again Margaret!"

Faves
Bob Dylan
Paul Simon
Mark Knofler
Chris Stapleton
Currently Charles Wesley Godwin. Check him out.

Riffs: Tony Iommi
Lyrics: Ronnie James Dio

Pete Townsen from the Who. My spelling sucks!

Lots of good ones already mentioned.

I'd add Guy Clark to the list.

Jeff Lynne

A bunch of the previously named writers, but Steve Goodman, Hoyt Axton, Ian Tyson, and more...

The late Robbie Robertson.
By far.

I’m not terribly literate when it comes to music. I know what I like and that’s about as deep as I go into the world of music but I like Kris Kristopherson.

Hell yeah. Have music from most of them, including Guy.

Adding Tom Waits.

One of the 20th century's best.

Shel Silverstein is another one that I enjoy, at least in the “hokum” genre.

Guy Clark is great as is Townes but all of those guys were contemporaries that collaborated often and usually to excess. 😉

Guy Clark

especially when Pearl sang it!...

Dolly P and Shina Twain

Don’t forget Dolly Parton. Few know she wrote” I’ll always love you “ sung by Whitney Huston.

Carol King

Merle Haggard

Robert Matthew Van Winkle and Adam Nathaniel Yauch

Yeah, that one is a pretty closely guarded secret...

Interesting list:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-songwriters#bob-dylan

Dylan not so much as his singing but his songs many of which were covered by people who could sing.

  
One of my favorites is Marcia Ball.



"Let Me Play With Your Poodle" - Marcia Ball




“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.

https://marciaball.com/

[quote=alwaysoutdoors][/quote]

Who is the chick playing pool in your sigline?

Toy Caldwell
George McKorkle
Doug Gray

Older stuff…

Bobby Bare, Steve Goodman, John Prine.

A little more recently…

Kerry Kurt Phillips, Scotty Emerick.

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:

John Prine, RIP!

tough to beat old Kris Kristofferson

Another favorite. Here he is singing "Paradise" with John Burns on guitar and vocals.

Neal for lyrics
Geddy and Alex for the music


Neal died today four years ago






P

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.

No one said Jon Fogerty !!!?

Boy howdy, first I’ve been herd of that.

But all i do is wortch johnson wayne movie anyways. The same ones over and ovber

Cause i’m a simpleton

Chuck Berry

Barry Manifold

Zappa

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.

I was, but you beat me to it.

I'll throw in a few not mentioned:

Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)

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

The anonymous Scotsman who wrote The Parting Glass



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.

There are so many really good writers……but, Merle Haggard is certainly near the top of the list! memtb

Too many to count.

Townes Van Zandt
John Prine
Warren Zevon
Kris Kristopherson
Hank Williams
Blaze Foley

So like 8-9 then?

No kris kristofferson? Hmmm

Mine would be, in no particular order...

Ray wylie Hubbard
Willy Braun
Kris kristofferson
Townes Van Zandt
REK
Hayes carll
Dean dillon
Paul eason
Pinto Bennett

Cody Jenks

He's another good one for sure.

Like many my list of "Favorite Songwriter(s)" plural would be as long as my arm, including many listed above. Were I stranded on a desert island with only one writer's catalog of recorded works to listen to for the rest of my days, it would be Bob McDill, in a walk.

Mark Knophler - You likely know him from Dire Straights but he's done lot of writing for others as well as some movie soundtracks.

One I love with Emmy Lou Harris about an old soldier who's marched with Napoleon and is ready to go home.

David Allen Coe wrote a lot of great songs. Hell of a performer as well.

Jerry Reed

Mike Ness

Gloria and Bill Gaither, fabulous team

Robert Hunter.

Jerry Jeff Walker.

Old school

John Prine

Current day

Foy Vance

LOL ! “Pissin’ in the wind” 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

He wrote so MANY good ones !

One of my favorites too, Roger.

Gordon Lightfoot

Steve Earle

Sam. we need some cattle pictures.

Ed Bruce, "Mommies don't let your babies grow up to cowboys."

Steve Earle is a bed wetting liberal

I was just thinking about Copperhead Road.

Jerry Reed.

Well, if we eliminated the liberal songwriters it would be pretty quiet.

Well, if we eliminated the liberal songwriters we’d scratch about 2/3 of the music.

Probably Billy Joe Shaver and Tom Russell

Clay Blaker

"I woke up Sunday morning, with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert
And I fumbled through the closet, and I put on my cleanest dirty shirt..."

If you polled actual songwriters about their favorite I think Guy Clark would win. Some other good ones I did not see mentioned are Chris Knight, Hayes Carll, Delbert McClinton, Nanci Griffith, Cody Cannon (Whiskey Myers) and Evan Felker (Turnpike Troubadours)

Cody Canada, Cody Cannon

Bob Dylan.

Jerry Cantrell

Following

Agreed

Hank

David Gilmour.

The world is full of liberals, many who we have to work with and deal with on a daily basis. Forget them and carry on.

Steve Earle is a good songwriter, no matter what his politics are.

Bob Dylan. Gripe about his vocals all you want, pretty much everyone has done his songs.