Before looking at my next 10 favorite musical artists, here is a link to a touching story about Brian Wilson’s school righting a wrong from 60 years ago.
So here are my artists ranked 21-30 . I haven’t done any ranking within the bands of 10. A reminder that this list is very personal, and exclusion, or lower ranking of an artist does not imply that I am conclusively saying they are not as good as my topped ranked musicians. It’s just about the music that works for me.
Innocence Mission: Lovely mostly acoustic music from a husband and wife duo.
Free Design: Sunshine pop group who are quite obscure, but made a comeback in popularity in 2000s.
Hollies: Known for their 60s British pop, also responsible for one-third of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
October Project: Best known for their two 1990s albums, but are still around in various combinations and solo work.
Housemartins/Beautiful South: Paul Heaton’s two groups have been responsible for great British pop since the mid-80s.
Bee Gees: One of my first loves as I grew up in the Saturday Night Fever era. Their early music was my first real introduction to great 60s music.
Neko Case: Alternative country superstar who has made consistently good music since the 90s.
Fifth Dimension: One of the few on my list who are performers rather than songwriters, but are here for their great interpretation of Bacharach, Webb and other great writers.
High Llamas: First band I really got into based on internet discussions.
Kacey Musgraves: Became aware of her after her collaboration with Brian Wilson, but now rate her one of the best current songwriters.
The Fifth Dimension has always been my favorite, especially with Jim Webb and Burt Bacharach material… Johnny Rivers as well… I love the back of their
album “Stone Soul Picnic” with JR lifting them off… Up, up, and away…