Jackson Browne

Of all the fiercely talented singer-songwriters to emerge in the 1970s, even among the crowded field of fellow West Coast transplants like Joni Mitchell, Carole King and James Taylor, Jackson Browne has always stood out for his lyricism. Browne’s words eloquently captured the heartache, resignation and bittersweet bewilderment of love lost, particularly on songs like “Late for the Sky,” whose opening lines (“The words had all been spoken/And somehow the feeling still wasn’t right/And still we continued on through the night/Tracing our steps from the beginning/Until they vanished into the air/Trying to understand how our lives had led us there”) are poignant and profound. While Browne is probably best known among the masses for his bigger radio hits, such as “Doctor My Eyes” and “Somebody’s Baby,” it’s the deeper cuts on albums like Late for the Sky and The Pretender that cut the deepest.