American Troubadours by Mark Brend (2001)

A retrospective of nine little known, folkish musicians from the Sixties.

Nonfiction Review: American Troubadours is subtitled "groundbreaking singer-songwriters of the 60s," but most weren't influential and aren't remembered today. Features an odd group of nine musicians, which except for being white, male, folk music-adjacent, and having a recording career that began between 1963 and 1968, don't have a lot in common. Four died young, most had short musical careers (which happens when you die young) ending in the Seventies, three or four were noted songwriters, four or five were talented singers. Three were named Tim, two each Tom and David. Not many boys' names in the Sixties. Most people have never heard of David Ackles, David Blue, Tom Rapp, or Tim Rose. Some folks may be at least vaguely familiar with (those folks who lived through the Sixties and remember the Sixties) Tim Hardin ("If I Were a Carpenter"), Fred Neil ("Everybody's Talking"), Phil Ochs ("Changes," "There But for Fortune"), Tom Rush ("No Regrets"). Tim Buckley may be better known as the father of Jeff Buckley, who had a hit with Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." I enjoyed reading about the various artists, some with tragic careers, some who weren't especially nice, some with a lot of talent that they couldn't sustain. American Troubadours is lushly produced on heavy stock with a Foreword and an Introduction, a generous color picture gallery of the artists, well-done biographies of six to eleven (large) pages for each, an illustrated discography in color, a well annotated discography (with star ratings), a key to various other people mentioned in the book and to other artists of the time, and an index. The processing was done in Malaysia and Hong Kong so it's high quality. A first rate production if one doesn't mind the relatively short biographies (they were long enough for me) and the idiosyncratic choice of subjects. There are no women or people of color -- in a group of nine wouldn't you expect at least one? Just because I'm that way, if someone is interested in a sequel to this book they might consider Judee Sill, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Patrick Sky, Judy Roderick, Richie Havens, Carolyn Hester, Karen Dalton, Janis Ian, Richard and Mimi Fariña, Julie Felix, and Judy Henske among about a hundred other artists who weren't too famous, but had interesting careers back in the day. There are few others who were so unfamous that I just can't quite remember their names at the moment ... . Despite all my harping, I'll admit that as a bedsit guitarist, I have happily tried the excellent songs of Hardin, Neil, and Rush. American Troubadours is interesting, but far from necessary. A quite well done oddity. Unless you're a huge fan of one or more of these artists, in which case it won't be quite enough.  [3★]