Who’s left?

It’s a dispiriting time to be a lover of the dark art of songwriting. When it comes to writing legends—big ones or cultists— who’s left?

A short list of dead folks in a league of their own: Townes, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, Justin Townes Earle, Malcolm Damn Holcombe, Kristofferson, David Berman, Gram Parsons, Prine.

God love Dylan and Isbell and Tweedy and Westerberg and many others for still trucking. But on the level of those aforementioned acts, who’s still active and crushing it? Where are the living legends to idolize anymore. Drop em. However obscure.