Here we have six solo musicians and one group of old farts who are of exceptional talent and unfortunately little known.  Tis a shame that more people haven't heard the singing and songwriting of these folks, so I've taken it upon myself to spread the word.  All of these artists write lyrics which are much more rich and complex than the average crap you'll hear on the radio.  In fact, their music won't work on the radio mainly because it isn't dumbed down for the short attention span which the corporately owned stations demand.  So in short, if you're a moron who likes current Top 40 junk, these artists will be way over your head.  And if you're upset at being called a moron, dial up your favorite Britney Spears hit on your Ipod and sulk.  
 

Let's start off with Sara Hickman , a Texan who writes music that is a wonderful mix of virtually every style you can imagine.  She sings about a wide variety of subjects, with an often playful expressiveness.  The song "Aurora" will curl your toes in fact.  Sara writes, sings, and plays guitar.  Years ago she was pegged by her major label as the next Carly Simon (big lips) after scoring a top 5 contemporary hit called I Couldn't Help Myself .  Refusing to create more pablum like that song, she was forced to buy back her next albums' worth of songs and moved on to a smaller record label.  Guess what?  She'll even answer questions by email if you're nice.  For instance, she told me what her natural hair color is.  Try this link for an overview.

Next up is a fellow native of Iowa, Susan Werner.  She has 5+ cd's full of nifty tunes which I wood classify as mature folk/pop, a very strong and listenable voice, and a firm handshake.  Actually, she easily has the strongest voice of the five women listed here.  Susan writes, sings, plays the piano and guitar.  Plus, I saw her in concert and got an autograph.  Susan tours around the midwest to small venues, where she can show off her exceptional vocal cords.  Good reviews on her here and here.

There's one guy I'd like to include with the women, a Minnesota native named Peter Mayer .  There's another musician of the same name, so beware.  Peter writes vaguely folk type, acoustic guitar based songs about nature, living simply, science, doing the right things, spirituality, and other topics dear to us tree huggers.  Listening may create an urge in you to build a cabin in the woods.

Here's an artist with only three full cd's to her name thus far, with the first two (Waking Hour and Warm Strangers) being works of art, while the third is a bit thin.   Her name is Vienna Teng, and her music is somewhat similar to Sarah McLachlan and/or Tori Amos, whom Ms Teng lists as influences.  Generally piano based, and about subjects other than the usual love songs, the tunes are melodic and unique, with some being downright gorgeous.  Her voice is kinda delicate, unlike those of Sara and Susan above, but she uses it well.  A professional review is available here.

This one's a bit more complex.  The group called Kansas, which you may recall from the 70's, was actually the third incarnation of such.  In fact, they were far more "White Clover" than "Kansas", since that's what they called themselves before Kerry Livgren  departed Kansas #2, joined the boys from White Clover, and brought along the name Kansas.  Kansas #1 consisted of two of White Clover's members so I reckon they thought they could use the name.  Got that?  Anyways, the folks from Kansas #2 who didn't become famous, plus Kerry Livgren, got back together to record as ProtoKaw , which means pre-Kansas.  The only guy from the Kansas (#3) you're familiar with is  Livgren, Kansas' main songwriter.  So this leaves us with a bunch of old farts who've made some darn good music, which is similar to the famous Kansas, yet different enough to stay interesting.

This musician is a bit tougher to describe.  Her name is Thea Gilmore and hails from England, an accent which you'll hear in her music.  Describing the music is the hard part.  It would behoove you (I really like that word, behoove) to check her out on Amazon in order to hear some samples, and read the overwhelmingly positive reviews.  There are also a few on her website.  In brief, her music is intelligent, won't offend a person in his/her 30's or 40's, and spans pop/rock/folk/whatever.  There are also several songs with the spooky sounding minor chords or keys, to make things interesting.  Click here for another opinion.

Finally we come to the former member of Four Non-Blondes, Linda Perry.  With only one solo album available at a reasonable price, there's not much choice, but at least it's an interesting choice.  Her album In Flight does a decent job of showcasing what I feel is the most unique voice in music.  While not as rocking as the Non-Blondes were, the songs are dark, moody, and full of those minor chord thingies.   Unfortunately, a few years ago she found considerable fame writing hits for such people as Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Alicia Keys to name a few, so she's now too busy to make her own tunes.  A great pity.   Additional info here.

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