Skip is on the money here, through I'd perhaps substitute "James Taylor" for "Jackson Browne," who at least gained considerably more rock'n'roll cache during his "Running on Empty" and "Lawyers in Love" phase. Otherwise, for a popular vision of what "singer-songwriter" has come to imply in the public sphere, one need only recall Bluto Blutarski's response to hearing "Twelfth of Never" on the stairway in Delta House... ;-) But as a fan of each and every one of the singer-songwriters he mentions - as well as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Mark Eitzel, Gordon Haskell, Bob Mould, Mark "E" Everett, Michael Penn... and Skip Heller, too - mine was a most unintended slight. All I really meant was that Robin's work was harmonically advanced, clever and inventive, yet for the most part a listener hearing her songs on the radio, played between those of, say, Cat Stevens and Dan Fogelberg, wouldn't automatically turn the dial (unless, of course, they couldn't abide her distinctive prairie voice, which poses no problem for me). Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com NP - Tobias Picker, 'Therese Raquin' - Dallas Opera (Chandos) -----Original Message----- From: skip Heller [mailto:velaires@earthlink.net] Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 12:58 PM The term "singer/songwriter" has been categorically stigmatized. Whenever the term is thrown around, it almost automatically infers some self-congradulatory self-piteous, professionally sensitive tripe, ala Cat Stevens or Jackson Browne. It (the term) alludes any kind positive connotation, and there are really amazing singer-songwriters in the most classic sense of the term who do not fall into the "professionally sensitive" mold -- Tom Waits, Lyle Lovett, Randy Newman, Dave Alvin, Lauryn Hill, and Paul Westerberg have all referred to themselves as singer-songwriters. But the mainstream perception of the term has lost any value, largely because it means "someone like Dan Fogelberg".