What Makes A Great American Songwriter?

Welcome to**** Listening Habits,a column where I share the music and musical topics I’ve been fixated on recently.

You might've heard recently that the New York Times came out with a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters, a hyper-specific conceit that reeks of music writers trying to make their job as easy as possible. There also was a supplemental list of 11 songwriters that just missed the cut, meant to head off some of the ire about who got left off. That is what lists are for, ultimately: red meat for the engagement maw, a thing to react to and argue about which will hopefully drive traffic. Music outlets/sections are legally required to provide these at least once a year as a result.

https://youtu.be/opkRF3UZSJw?si=FZ8cu57_9N6ljkxm