1970s Singer-Songwriters
Main point The early to mid-1970s saw a strong trend for singer-songwriters who wrote in a personal style, known as ‘confessional’. Joni Mitchell was the outstanding performer in this group.
Detail There have always been artists who wrote and performed their own songs.
In the 20th century, prior to rock and roll, there were several noted singer-songwriters: Robert Johnson (blues), Billie Holliday (blues), Hank Williams (country) and Woody Guthrie (folk).
However, in the pop era, this became much more common and indeed the expected norm. In the 1950s, Buddy Holly wrote his own songs, followed in the early and mid Sixties by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and Simon and Garfunkel, so that by the late Sixties, it was the rule rather than the exception.
In the late Sixties, a particular brand of singer-songwriter started to emerge: the personal singer-songwriter, a solo performer who would talk about their inner life, feelings and reflections – this was known as ‘confessional songwriting’.
A large number of eminent songwriters performed in this style: Joni Mitchell, Carole King, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Cat Stevens, Jackson Browne, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Don McLean, Joan Armatrading. They worked mainly with the guitar, but also with the piano.
Major songs included: Both Sides Now, Father and Son, You’ve Got A Friend, Fire and Rain, Heart of Gold, Bird On The Wire, Perfect Day, You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, American Pie and Love and Affection.
From the late Seventies, the genre merged with soft rock, with artists such as Billy Joel, and there were fewer solo singer-songwriters for a while.
In the long run, however, the distinctive 1970s singer-songwriter style has remained a strand in popular music, emerging regularly with performers such as: Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, k d lang, Alison Morrissette, K T Tunstall, Dido, Adele, Beyonce and Taylor Swift.
A notable development, with the advent of the internet, has been the new possibility of building a career through a personal website, and this has helped several artists to come to the fore.
Wiki on singer-songwriters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer-songwriter
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