J List

Despite no request for it, I will post a list of J artists I sometimes might listen to a la the JLink, but avoid ones that John has already mentioned.

James McMurtry - I found out about this dude via a Slate article which was overblown, but that is what happens when you let English professors write about pop music. This dude writes Americana, kind of like a John Mellencamp or even a Bruce Springsteen, but a little further west and a little more country. Be warned, it is pretty country, so if you can't take a little twang you should probably avoid him. He does sing pretty much straight though, sort of talk singing, letting the words do the talking, which is good, because he is pretty good at evoking a bleak midwestern meth-addled wasteland and doesn't need to country swagger to prove it. Oh, and he's the son of Larry McMurtry, so you might like him, pops.

John Mellencamp - If you were born in the U.S., you almost assuredly know his little ditty 'bout Jack & Diane. You have probably also lived in a little pink house, so you probably know this dude. I'm not going to bother talking any more about him because I don't really know much more, anyway.

Jim Croce - He's the baddest man in the whole damn town. Don't tug on Superman's cape.

John Coltrane - If I knew more about critiqueing jazz, I would say more than he is pretty great, but I don't.

John Lennon - Worth a mention outside of the Beatles because everyone loves "Imagine," and with good reason. I always think it is so weird that even religious people seem to embrace it despite its very clear humanist message. Of course he did plenty of other cool stuff, too. He also recorded a bunch of non-listenable garbage with Yoko Ono as well as the track that just has to be skipped when listening to the White Album. Yeah, you know which one.

Not in the right order, I suppose, but there you go. As a bonus, somebody John mentioned that just needs to be listened to one more time.