Editing Singer-songwriter (section)

== Traditions in different countries==
=== North America, United Kingdom, and Ireland ===
{{See also|American folk music revival}}
[[File:Paul Simon at the 9-30 Club (b).jpg|thumb|250x250px|[[Paul Simon]] in concert, 2011]]

The term "singer-songwriter" in North America can be traced back to singers who developed works in the blues and folk music style. Early to mid-20th century American singer-songwriters include [[Lead Belly]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leadbelly.org/re-homepage.html |title=Leadbelly Foundation |website=Leadbelly.org |access-date=22 September 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123193411/http://www.leadbelly.org/re-homepage.html |archive-date=23 January 2010  }}</ref> [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]],<ref>{{cite web |first = Ted|last = Ownby |url= http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/articles/39/jimmie-rodgers-the-father-of-country-music |title=Jimmie Rodgers: The Father of Country Music |website= Mississippi History Now |date=July 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007161643/http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/articles/39/jimmie-rodgers-the-father-of-country-music |archive-date=7 October 2010  }}</ref> [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]],<ref>Dicaire, David.  ''Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century'', pp. 140–144. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999. {{ISBN|0-7864-0606-2}}.</ref> [[T-Bone Walker]],<ref name="RS greatist guitarists">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/5945/32609/33089|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612164258/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/5945/32609/33089|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 June 2010|title=47; T-Bone Walker|last= Wenner |first=Jann|author-link=Jann Wenner|year=2010|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=16 November 2010}}</ref> [[Blind Willie McTell]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://toto.lib.unca.edu/sounds/piedmontblues/mctell.html |title=East Coast Piedmont Blues – Blind Willie McTell |website=Toto.lib.unca.edu |access-date=23 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101173308/http://toto.lib.unca.edu/sounds/piedmontblues/mctell.html |archive-date=1 November 2013  }}</ref> [[Lightnin' Hopkins]],<ref>Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 145–146. {{ISBN|1-85868-255-X}}.</ref> [[Son House]],<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.nationalguitars.com/part3.html |title=National Guitar.com |access-date=11 April 2008 |url-status= bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411011621/http://www.nationalguitars.com/part3.html |archive-date=11 April 2008  }}</ref> and [[Robert Johnson (musician)|Robert Johnson]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The 50 albums that changed music |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jul/16/popandrock.shopping |journal=[[The Observer]] |date=16 July 2006 |access-date=1 November 2008 | location=London}}</ref><ref>Booklet accompanying the ''Complete Recordings'' box set, Stephen LaVere, Sony Music Entertainment, 1990, Clapton quote on p. 26</ref> In the 1940s and 1950s country singer-songwriters like [[Hank Williams]] became well known,<ref>[http://www.sputnikmusic.com/bands/Hank-Williams/9523/ Hank Williams Sputnik Music profile] Retrieved 8 September 2014</ref> as well as [[Woody Guthrie]], and [[Pete Seeger]],<ref name= "Spivey">Spivey, Christine A. {{cite web |url=http://www.loyno.edu/history/journal/1996-7/Spivey.html |title=This Land is Your land, This Land is My Land: Folk Music, Communism, and the Red Scare as a Part of the American Landscape. |access-date=25 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625072313/http://www.loyno.edu/history/journal/1996-7/Spivey.html |archive-date=25 June 2008  }} ''The Student Historical Journal 1996–1997'', Loyola University New Orleans, 1996.</ref> along with [[Ronnie Gilbert]] and [[Lee Hays]] and other members of [[the Weavers]] who performed their mostly topical works to an ever-growing wider audience.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LnORWrmvlloC&q=Committee "Sing out, warning! sing out, love!": the writings of Lee Hays], by Lee Hays and Steven Koppelman (Amherst and Boston: [[University of Massachusetts Press]], 2003), p. 116.</ref> These proto-singer-songwriters were less concerned than today's singer-songwriters with the unadulterated originality of their music and lyrics, and would lift parts from other songs and play covers without hesitation. The tradition of writing topical songs (songs regarding specific issues of the day, such as Lead Belly's "Jim Crow Blues" or Guthrie's "[[Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)]]") was established by this group of musicians. Singers like Seeger and Guthrie would attend rallies for labor unions, and so wrote many songs concerning the life of the working classes, and social protest; as did other folksingers like [[Josh White]], [[Cisco Houston]], [[Malvina Reynolds]], [[Earl Robinson]], [[Ewan MacColl]], [[John Jacob Niles]], and [[Doc Watson]], while blues singers like Johnson and Hopkins wrote songs about their personal life experiences. This focus on social issues has greatly influenced the singer-songwriter genre. Additionally in the 1930s through the 1950s several jazz and blues singer-songwriters emerged like [[Hoagy Carmichael]], [[Billie Holiday]], [[Ray Charles]], [[Harry Gibson]], [[Peggy Lee]], and [[Nina Simone]], as well as in the [[rock n' roll]] genre from which emerged influential singer-songwriters [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], [[Buddy Holly]], [[Chuck Berry]], [[Roy Orbison]], [[Sam Cooke]], [[Ritchie Valens]], and [[Paul Anka]]. In the [[country music]] field, singer-songwriters like [[Hank Williams]], [[Patsy Cline]], [[Tammy Wynette]], [[Loretta Lynn]], [[George Jones]], [[Merle Haggard]], [[Roger Miller]], [[Billy Edd Wheeler]], and others emerged from the 1940s through the 1960s, often writing compelling songs about love relationships and other subjects.[[File:Joni Mitchell 1983.jpg|thumb|left|[[Joni Mitchell]], 1983]][[File:Woody Guthrie 2.jpg|thumb|[[Woody Guthrie]], 1943]]The first popular recognition of the singer-songwriter in English-speaking North America and the United Kingdom occurred in the 1960s and early 1970s when a series of blues, folk and [[country music|country]]-influenced musicians rose to prominence and popularity. These singer-songwriters included [[Bob Dylan]], [[Neil Young]], [[John Lennon]], [[Van Morrison]], [[Willie Nelson]], [[Paul Simon]], [[Leonard Cohen]], [[Albert Hammond]], [[Gordon Lightfoot]], and [[Joni Mitchell]]. Artists who had been primarily songwriters, notably [[Carole King]], [[Townes Van Zandt]], and [[Neil Diamond]], also began releasing work as performers. In contrast to the storytelling approach of most prior country and folk music, these performers typically wrote songs from a highly personal (often first-person), introspective point of view. The adjectives "confessional" and "sensitive" were often used (sometimes derisively) to describe singer-songwriter style.[[File:Joan Baez Bob Dylan crop.jpg|thumb|[[Bob Dylan]], 1963]]
[[File:Carole King.jpg|thumb|left|Carole King performing aboard [[USS Harry S. Truman|USS ''Harry S. Truman'']] in the Mediterranean in 2000]]
In the [[rock band]] era, members were not technically singer-songwriters as solo acts. However, many were singer-songwriters who created songs with other band members. Examples include [[Paul McCartney]], [[John Lennon]], [[George Harrison]], [[Ringo Starr]], [[Brian Wilson]], [[Mick Jagger]], [[Keith Richards]], [[Jerry Garcia]] and [[Bob Weir]], [[Elton John]] (with [[Bernie Taupin]]), [[Justin Hayward]], [[John Lodge (musician)|John Lodge]], [[Robbie Robertson]], [[Ian Anderson]], [[Phil Collins]], [[Peter Gabriel]], [[Peter Frampton]], [[Don Henley]], [[Glenn Frey]], [[Country Joe McDonald]], and [[Barry Melton]]. Many others like [[Eric Clapton]] found success as singer-songwriters in their later careers.

The scene that had developed out of the [[American folk music revival]], pioneered by [[Woody Guthrie]] and [[Pete Seeger]] had grown to a major movement in the early 1960s, popularized by [[Joan Baez]] and her protégée, [[Bob Dylan]], who had started reaching a mainstream audience with his hit, [[Blowin' in the Wind]]" (1963) bringing "[[protest song]]s" to a wider audience.<ref>J. E. Perone, ''Music of the Counterculture Era American History Through Music'' (Westwood, CT: Greenwood, 2004), {{ISBN|0-313-32689-4}}, p. 37.</ref> There were hints of cross-pollination, but rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with different audiences.<ref name=Bogdanov2002FolkRock>{{cite book|last1=Bogdanov |first1= Vladimir|last2=Woodstra |first2= Chris|last3=Erlewine |first3 = Stephen Thomas|date = 2002 |pages=1308–09|title = All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul|isbn = 9780879306533|publisher = Hal Leonard Corporation}}</ref> An early attempt at fusing elements of folk and rock was highlighted in the Animals "[[House of the Rising Sun]]" (1964), a folk song, recorded with rock and roll instrumentation.<ref name="marsh1001">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lexjansen.com/cgi-bin/marsh_xml.php?fn=87|title=The Heart of Rock and Soul by Dave Marsh – 1001 greatest singles|website=Lexjansen.com|access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>

By the mid-1960s [[Bob Dylan]] took the lead in merging folk and rock, and in July 1965, released "[[Like a Rolling Stone]]", with a revolutionary rock sound, steeped in tawdry urban imagery, followed by an electric performance later that month at the Newport Folk Festival. Dylan plugged an entire generation into the milieu of the singer-songwriter. Often writing from an urban point of view, with poetry punctuated by rock rhythms and electric power, Dylan's fusing of folk and rock freed up emerging singer-songwriters to use elements of both traditions to tell their stories. In the mid- to late 1960s, bands and singer-songwriters began to proliferate the underground New York art/music scene. The release of ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' in 1967, featuring singer-songwriter [[Lou Reed]] and German singer and collaborator [[Nico]] was described as the "most prophetic rock album ever made" by ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' in 2003.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ |title=Poker's New World Order : Rolling Stone |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=30 May 2021 |archive-date=13 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413022906/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7371959/pokers_new_world_order |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6597640/13_the_velvet_underground |title=13) The Velvet Underground|magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060316135338/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6597640/13_the_velvet_underground/|archive-date = 16 March 2006|url-status=dead |date = 1 November 2003}}</ref>

In the late '60s a new wave of female singer-songwriters broke from the confines of pop, using the urban landscape as their canvas for lyrics in the confessional style of poets like [[Anne Sexton]] and [[Sylvia Plath]]. These pioneering women, appeared in a feature in ''[[Newsweek]]'', July 1969, "The Girls: Letting Go: 'What is common to them – to [[Joni Mitchell]] and [[Lotti Golden]], to [[Laura Nyro]], [[Melanie Safka|Melanie]], and to [[Elyse Weinberg]], are the personalised songs they write, like voyages of self-discovery, brimming with keen observation and startling in the impact of their poetry."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2664&from=search|title=Joni Mitchell Library – THE GIRLS—LETTING GO: Newsweek, July 14, 1969|website=Jonimitchell.com|access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref> In ''[[The Guardian]]'', author [[Laura Barton]] describes the radical shift in subject matter—they sang about politics, love affairs, the urban landscape, drugs, disappointment, and the life and loneliness of the itinerant performer.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/26/from-joni-mitchell-to-laura-marling-how-female-troubadours-changed-music |title=From Joni Mitchell to Laura Marling: how female troubadours changed music |first=Laura |last=Barton |author-link=Laura Barton |date=26 January 2017 |access-date=2021-05-06 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London}}</ref> [[Lotti Golden]], in her Atlantic debut album ''[[Motor-Cycle (album)|Motor-Cycle]]'', chronicled her life in NYC's East Village in the late 1960s counterculture, visiting subjects such as gender identity (The Space Queens-Silky is Sad) and excessive drug use (Gonna Fay's). The women in the 1969 Newsweek article ushered in a new age of the contemporary female singer-songwriter that has informed generations of women singer-songwriters into the 21st century,<ref name="auto"/> with poet [[Warsan Shire]] as the muse for [[Beyoncé]]'s 2016 album [[Lemonade (Beyoncé album)|''Lemonade'']].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/27/475872852/beyonces-lemonade-turns-a-somali-brit-poet-into-a-global-star|title=Beyonce's 'Lemonade' Turns A Somali-Brit Poet into A Global Star|publisher=NPR}}</ref>
 
By the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the original wave of singer-songwriters had largely been absorbed into a more general pop or [[soft rock]] format, but some new artists in the singer-songwriter tradition (including [[Billy Joel]], [[Stevie Wonder]], [[Gilbert O'Sullivan]], [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[Tom Petty]], [[Jackson Browne]], [[Chris Isaak]], [[Victoria Williams]], [[John Mellencamp]], and [[Warren Zevon]]) continued to emerge, and in other cases rock and even [[punk rock]] artists such as [[Peter Case]], [[Paul Collins (musician)|Paul Collins]], and [[Paul Westerberg]] transitioned to careers as solo singer-songwriters. [[Kate Bush]] remained distinctive throughout with her idiosyncratic style.

In the late 1980s, the term was applied to a group of predominantly female U.S. artists, beginning with [[Suzanne Vega]] whose first album sold unexpectedly well, followed by the likes of [[Tracy Chapman]], [[Melissa Etheridge]], [[Nanci Griffith]], [[k.d. lang]], [[Mariah Carey]], [[Shania Twain]], [[Sarah McLachlan]], [[Shawn Colvin]], [[Sheryl Crow]], [[Lisa Loeb]], [[Joan Osborne]], [[Indigo Girls]], and [[Tori Amos]], who found success first in the United Kingdom, then in her home market. In the early 1990s, female artists also began to emerge in new styles, including [[Courtney Love]] and [[PJ Harvey]]. Later in the mid-1990s, the term was revived again with the success of Canada's [[Alanis Morissette]] and her breakthrough album ''[[Jagged Little Pill]].''

Also in the 1980s and 1990s, artists such as [[Bono]], [[the Edge]], [[Dave Matthews]], [[Jeff Buckley]], [[Richard Barone]], [[Duncan Sheik]], and [[Elliott Smith]] borrowed from the singer-songwriter tradition to create new acoustic-based rock styles. In the 2000s, a quieter style emerged, with largely impressionistic lyrics, from artists such as [[Norah Jones]], [[Conor Oberst]], [[Sufjan Stevens]], [[David Bazan]], [[South San Gabriel (band)|South San Gabriel]], [[Iron & Wine]], [[David Gray (British musician)|David Gray]], [[Ray LaMontagne]], [[Meg Hutchinson]], [[Darden Smith]], [[Josh Rouse]], Steve Millar, [[Jolie Holland]], [[Patrick Duff]], [[Richard Buckner (musician)|Richard Buckner]], [[Jewel (singer)|Jewel]], [[Jack Savoretti]], [[Richard Shindell]], [[John Gorka]], and [[Antje Duvekot]]. Some started to branch out in new genres such as [[Kurt Cobain]], [[Noel Gallagher]], [[T Bone Burnett]], [[Eddie Vedder]], and [[Pete Yorn]]. Others used [[Recreational drug use|drugs]] as a mind-altering way to boost creativity; for example, Emil Amos of [[Holy Sons (band)|Holy Sons]] took drugs daily from age sixteen on, wrote over 1,000 songs, and landed a record contract with an [[indie music|indie label]].<ref name=twsAprZB11>{{cite news |first=Chris|last=Martins |title=Sober People Scare the Shit Out of Me |work=LA Weekly |date=10 March 2011|url=http://www.laweekly.com/2011-03-10/music/sober-people-scare-the-shit-out-of-me/ |access-date=28 April 2011}}</ref>

Recording on the professional-grade systems became affordable for individuals in the late 1990s. This created opportunities for people to independently record and sell their music. Such artists are known as "indies" because they release their records on independent, often self-owned record labels, or no label at all. Additionally the Internet has provided a means for indies to get their music heard by a wider audience.

{|style="margin: 0 auto;"
| [[File:David Crosby in 1976.jpg|thumb|upright|[[David Crosby]], (of [[the Byrds]] and [[Crosby, Stills & Nash]]) is one of the singer-songwriters who crossed over into mainstream rock, seen here in 1976 backstage of the Frost Amphitheater, Stanford University.]]
| [[File:Tracy Chapman at TED conference 2007 by jurvetson.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Tracy Chapman]] began singing about social issues in American society in the 1980s.]]
| [[File:Norahjonesongma.jpg|thumb|[[Norah Jones]] performing on an electric piano in 2010. Jones is the daughter of [[Ravi Shankar]].|201x201px]]
| [[File:Taylor Swift 008 (17684337073).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Taylor Swift]] is a contemporary singer-songwriter (pictured in 2015)]]
|[[File: Matty Healy at Open'er Festival (48687418182).jpg|thumb|220x220px|[[Matty Healy]] is a British singer-songwriter who fronts the indie art pop band [[the 1975]] (pictured in 2019)]]
|}

=== Chanson, the French tradition ===
French "[[chanson]]" comes from an old tradition, since the [[Middle Ages]]. It is driven by the rhythms of the French language. It can be distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music or [[soft rock]] format that began to spread in France during the 1960s until today, under the cultural influence of Anglo-American rock music and the rock band era.

The first modern French singer-songwriter was [[Charles Trenet]], who began his solo career in 1938. He was the first to use jazz rhythms in chanson. He would remain an isolated act until the creative blooming of a new generation during the [[Post-war|post-World War II era]] (mid-1940s and 1950s), where such artists as [[Léo Ferré]], [[Georges Brassens]], [[Félix Leclerc]] (from [[Quebec]]), [[Serge Gainsbourg]], [[Jacques Brel]] (from Belgium), [[Henri Salvador]] (from French Guiana), [[Charles Aznavour]], and [[Barbara (singer)|Barbara]] appeared, with contrasted and rich imagination. Most of them are recognized as great masters by younger generations of French artists, especially Ferré (for the richness of his lyrics, his melodic genius, his critical density on social issues and his body of work's profoundness) and Gainsbourg (for the bright and tasteful adaptation of pop or rock music with French language-driven rhythms).

During the 1960s and 1970s, prominent singer-songwriters included [[Claude Nougaro]], [[Jean Ferrat]], [[Boby Lapointe]], [[Françoise Hardy]], [[Reinhard Mey|Frédérik Mey]], [[Michel Polnareff]], [[Nino Ferrer]], [[Christophe (singer)|Christophe]], [[Bernard Lavilliers]], [[Véronique Sanson]] and [[Jacques Higelin]], amongst others.

=== ''Cantautori'', the Italian tradition ===
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[[File:Sanremo 1969 Lucio Battisti.jpg|thumb|[[Lucio Battisti]], 1969]]

{{lang|it|Cantautori}} (Italian plural; the singular is {{lang|it|cantautore}}) is the Italian expression corresponding to singer-songwriters in English. The word is a [[portmanteau]] of {{lang|it|cantante}} (singer) and {{lang|it|autore}} (writer).

The first internationally renowned {{lang|it|cantautore}} was [[Domenico Modugno]] with his song "[[Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song)|Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)]]", a [[List of best-selling singles#15 million copies or more|huge best seller]] in 1958; other early {{lang|it|cantautori}}, who began their careers in the late 50s, are [[Gino Paoli]], [[Luigi Tenco]], [[Umberto Bindi]], [[Giorgio Gaber]], and [[Enzo Jannacci]].

[[Fabrizio De André]], [[Lucio Battisti]], and [[Francesco Guccini]] began their careers in the '60s, while [[Edoardo Bennato]], [[Lucio Dalla]], [[Francesco De Gregori]], [[Franco Battiato]], [[Rino Gaetano]], [[Ivan Graziani]],[[Ivano Fossati]], [[Antonello Venditti]], [[Claudio Baglioni]], [[Pino Daniele]], [[Roberto Vecchioni]], [[Paolo Conte]],[[Angelo Branduardi]], and [[Eugenio Finardi]] all appeared in the '70s.
Their songs are still popular today, often telling stories of marginalized (De André, Guccini, Dalla) and rebellious people (Finardi, De Gregori, Venditti), or having a political background (Venditti, Guccini).

Branduardi was greatly influenced by Medieval and Baroque musical styles, while his lyrics are usually inspired by ancient fables. Battiato started as a [[progressive rock]] and [[Contemporary classical music|cultivated music]] artist in the 1970s, shifting to an original blend of pop, electronic, new wave, and world music in the 1980s.

Those {{lang|it|cantautori}} linked to the city of [[Genoa]] (De André, Paoli, Bindi, Tenco, Baccini, etc.) are also referred as members of the [[Genoese School]].

The Neapolitan {{lang|it|cantautore}} [[Pino Daniele]] often fused genres as diverse as R&B, fusion, blues, pop, jazz, and [[tarantella]] to produce a sound uniquely his own, with lyrics variously in Italian, Neapolitan or English. Similarly [[Paolo Conte]] was often tagged as a {{lang|it|cantautore}}, but was more into the jazz tradition.

In the 1980s [[Vasco Rossi]] was renowned for his blend of blues-tinged rock music mixed with Italian melodies.
He was nicknamed "the only Italian rockstar" ({{lang|it|l'unica rockstar italiana}}) by his fans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vascorossi.net/vrwf.asp?Idnotizia=807 |title=Sito ufficiale e Fan Club |publisher=Vasco Rossi |access-date=23 May 2014}}</ref>

Mixing international sounds and Italian lyrics, in the 2000s [[Bugo]] became the "{{lang|it|fantautore}}", a neologism coined for him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2006/11/30/arriva-il-lunatico-bugo-fantautore-da-sorprese.html |title=Arriva il lunatico Bugo 'fantautore' da sorprese – la Repubblica.it |language=it |website=Ricerca.repubblica.it |date=30 November 2006 |access-date=23 May 2014}}</ref> Despite not having achieved great fame, he is considered the pioneer of the renewal of Italian songwriting, making a point to break from the politicised content of the 70s.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.leggo.it/news/roma/bugo_domenica_na_cosetta_live_acustico_me_un_ritorno_alle_origini-2381099.html |title = Bugo, domenica a 'Na Cosetta il live acustico: "Per me un ritorno alle origini"|website=Leggo.it| date=14 April 2017 }}</ref>

In the last 25 years the tradition has mainly been continued by [[Samuele Bersani]], [[Caparezza]], and the so-called "2nd Roman school of {{lang|it|cantautori}}" (including [[Max Gazzè]], [[Niccolò Fabi]], [[Daniele Silvestri]], and [[Simone Cristicchi]]).

The word has been borrowed into other languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and [[Catalan language|Catalan]] ''cantautor'', French ''chantauteur'', [[Maltese language|Maltese]] ''kantawtur'', [[Romanian language|Romanian]] ''cantautor'', and [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]] ''kantavtor''.

=== Iberian-Latin American traditions ===
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2019}}
Beginning in the 1960s and following the Italian ''cantautori'' style of the 1950s (like the one of Domenico Modugno), many Latin American countries developed singer-songwriter traditions that adopted elements from various popular styles. The first such tradition was the mid-1960s invention of [[nueva canción]], which took hold in Andean countries like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia.

[[File:Caetano Veloso.jpg|thumb|left|[[Caetano Veloso]], 2006]]

At around the same time, the Brazilian popular style [[bossa nova]] was evolving into a politically charged singer-songwriter tradition called [[Tropicalismo]]. Two performers, [[Gilberto Gil]] and [[Caetano Veloso]] became two of the most famous people in all of Brazil through their work in Tropicalismo.

After World War II it was developed in Italy a very prolific singer-songwriter (in Italian ''cantautore'') tradition, initially connected with the French school of the ''chansonniers'', and lately developed very heterogeneously. Although the term ''cantautore'' normally implies consistent sociopolitical content in lyrics, noteworthy performers in a more inclusive singer-songwriter categorization are: [[Domenico Modugno]], [[Luigi Tenco]], [[Gino Paoli]], [[Sergio Endrigo]], [[Fabrizio De André]], [[Francesco De Gregori]], [[Antonello Venditti]], [[Roberto Vecchioni]], [[Ivano Fossati]], [[Lucio Dalla]], [[Francesco Guccini]], and [[Franco Battiato]].

In neighbouring Malta, the main singer-songwriters are [[Walter Micallef]], Manwel Mifsud and Vince Fabri. They all perform in Maltese.

Spain and Portugal have also had singer-songwriter traditions, which are sometimes said to have drawn on Latin elements. Catalonia is known for the [[Nova Cançó]] tradition – exemplified by [[Joan Manuel Serrat]] and [[Lluís Llach]]; the Portuguese folk/protest singer and songwriter [[José Afonso]] helped lead a revival of Portuguese folk culture, including a modernized, more socially aware form of [[fado]] called nova canção. Following Portugal's [[Carnation Revolution]] of 1974, nova canção became more politicized and was known as canto livre. Another important Spain singer-songwriters are [[Joaquín Sabina]], [[José Luis Perales]], and [[Luis Eduardo Aute]].

In the latter part of the 1960s and into the 1970s, socially and politically aware singer-songwriters like [[Silvio Rodríguez]] and [[Pablo Milanés]] emerged in Cuba, birthing a genre known as [[nueva trova]]. Trova as a genre has had broad influence across Latin America. In Mexico, for example, canción yucateca on the [[Yucatán Peninsula]] and trova serrana in the [[Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca]], are both regional adaptations of trova. Today, Guatemalan [[Ricardo Arjona]] qualifies as Latin America's most commercially successful singer-songwriter. Although sociopolitical engagement is uneven in his oeuvre, some see Arjona's more engaged works as placing him in the tradition of the Italian ''cantautori''.

In the mid-1970s, a singer-songwriter tradition called canto popular emerged in Uruguay.

With the influence of [[Tropicalismo]], Traditional [[Samba]] and [[Bossa Nova]], MPB ([[Música popular brasileira]]), or Brazilian Popular Music, became highly singer-songwriter based. For years solo artists would dominate Brazilian popular music with romantic cynicism alla [[Jobim]] or subliminal anti-government messages alla [[Chico Buarque]].  After the end of the [[military dictatorship in Brazil]], Brazilian music became less politically and socially conscious. The censored [[Raul Seixas]] or the humorous spiritualist [[Jorge Ben]] were slowly obscured by [[funk carioca]], [[axé music]], and [[disco|Brazilian disco]]. In recent years, however, a new stock of socially conscious Brazilian singer-songwriters is beginning to break the almost strictly dance-music momentum that has reigned since the 1980s (see the 'Brazilian folk/folk-rock sub-article in [[Brazilian Music]]).

=== Soviet Union and Russia ===
{{Main|Bard (Soviet Union)}}
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R1202-0019, Berlin, Palast der Republik, Bulat Okudshawa cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Soviet and Russian bard [[Bulat Okudzhava]], 1976]]

Since the 1960s, those singers who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment have been known as "bards". The first songs traditionally referred to as bard songs are thought to be written in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and the very existence of the genre is traditionally originated from the amateur activities of the Soviet intelligentsia, namely mass backpacking movement and the students' song movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Many bards performed their songs in small groups of people using a [[Russian guitar]], rarely if ever would they be accompanied by other musicians or singers. Though, bards using piano or accordion are also known. Those who became popular held modest concerts. The first nationwide-famous bards (starting their career in the 1950s) are traditionally referred to as the First Five: Mikhail Ancharov, [[Alexander Gorodnitsky]], [[Novella Matveyeva]], [[Bulat Okudzhava]], and [[Yuri Vizbor]]. In the 1960s, they were joined by [[Vladimir Vysotsky]], [[Victor Berkovsky]], [[Yuliy Kim]], and many others.

In the course of the 1970s, the shift to the classical 6-string guitar took place, and now, a Russian guitar is a rare bird with the bards. In the same period, the movement of KSP (Kluby Samodeyatelnoy Pesni – amateur song fan clubs) emerged, providing the bards with highly educated audience, and up to the end of the 1980s being their key promotion engine.  Bards were rarely permitted to record their music, partly given the political nature of many songs, partly due to their vague status in the strictly organised state-supported show business establishment of the USSR. As a result, bard tunes usually made their way around as folk lore, from mouth to mouth, or via the copying of amateur recordings (sometimes referred as [[magnitizdat]]) made at concerts, particularly those songs that were of political nature. Bard poetry differs from other poetry mainly in the fact that it is sung along with a simple guitar melody as opposed to being spoken. Another difference is that this form of poetry focuses less on style and more on meaning. This means that fewer stylistic devices are used, and the [[poetry]] often takes the form of narrative. What separates bard poetry from other songs is the fact that the music is far less important than the lyrics; [[chord progression]]s are often very simple and tend to repeat from one bard song to another. On the other hand, in the USSR the chief bard supporter was the state Union of Composers, and the main bard hater was the state Union of Writers. A far more obvious difference was the commerce-free nature of the genre: songs were written to be sung and not to be sold. The similar genre dominated by singers-songwriters is known as [[sung poetry]] in other Post-Soviet countries.

=== Bulgaria ===
Singer-songwriters are popular in Bulgaria under the name "bards", or "poets with guitars". Their tradition is a mixture of traditional folk motifs, city folklore from the early 20th century, and modern influences. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the Communist regime in the country started to tolerate the Bulgarian "bards", promoting the so-called "political songs", performed usually by one-man bands. A national festival tradition was established, under the title "Alen Mak" (Red Poppy), a symbol with strong Communist meaning in Bulgaria. At the same time, there were some prominent underground figures which were against the official Communist Party line, such as Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, and Velizar "Valdes" Vankov.

After the collapse of Communism in 1989, the singer-songwriters' tradition was re-established. Currently, the Bulgarian "bards" enjoy several festivals (local and international) per year, namely the PoKi Festival (Poets with Guitars, Poetic Strings) in the town of Harmanli, the Bardfest in Lovech, the Sofia Evenings of Singer-Songwriters, and others. Major figures in the Bulgarian tradition are Dimitar Taralezhkov, Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, Velizar "Valdes" Vankov, Dimitar Dobrev, Andro Stubel, Branimir "Bunny" Stoykov, Dorothea Tabakova, Mihail Belchev, Assen Maslarski, Grisha Trifonov, Plamen Stavrev, Vladimir Levkov, Margarita Drumeva, Maria Batchvarova, Plamen Sivov, and Krasimir Parvanov.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

=== Romania ===
Despite the [[communism|communist]] isolation, the tradition of the singer-songwriter in Romania flourished beginning with the end of the 1960s and it was put in the context of [[folk music]], with its three main styles in Romania: ethno folk, American-style folk and lyrical (cult) folk. The framework for many of these initiatives came under the form of [[Cenaclul Flacăra]], a series of mass cultural events with an inevitable ideological touch. Still, with the merit of supporting great opening initiatives: the appropriation of Western artists like [[Bob Dylan]], [[Joan Baez]] and others from the [[Woodstock]] generation, the public performance of gospel-like music, the opening to big international issues (pop culture, accountability of the leadership, tension surging during the Cold War-with surprisingly neutral positions, etc.).
Overall, the Romanian folk, in general, could be marked as an underground cultural movement, somewhere between non-aligned and protest music.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

=== ''Liedermacher'', the German tradition ===
[[File:Reinhard-Mey-Jahrhunderthalle-Frankfurt-02.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Reinhard Mey]], 2014]]

Rooted in the European Bänkelsang ("bench-singing") and Moritat traditions while also taking immediate inspiration from the French chanson scene and the [[American folk music revival]], the 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of a whole generation of German-language singer-songwriters called Liedermacher ("songmakers"), among them [[Hannes Wader]], [[Franz Josef Degenhardt]], [[Reinhard Mey]], and [[Konstantin Wecker]] from West Germany, [[Wolf Biermann]] from East Germany as well as [[Ludwig Hirsch]] and [[Georg Danzer]] from Austria. With regards to content and style, the Liedermacher spectrum ranges from political balladeering to rather observational storytelling and love songs. The lyrics often deal with topics such as [[social injustice]], [[militarism]], [[consumerism]], [[environmental issue]]s or the repercussions of the [[Nazism|German Nazi past]], often expressing technoskepticism and [[anti-establishment]] views.<ref>Huff, Hartmut: ''Liedermacher'', (1980), Munich: Heyne; Henke, Matthias: ''Die großen Chansonniers und Liedermacher'' (1987), Düsseldorf: Econ.</ref>

=== Sweden ===
In the mid-1960s, Sweden witnessed the renaissance of the "trubadur", the Swedish version of the singer-songwriter. [[Cornelis Vreeswijk]] and [[Fred Åkerström]] were particularly influential in their efforts to blend the heritage of the "[[Swedish ballad tradition|visa]]" (a specific way to render simple stanzaic poems or songs, given distinction by artists such as [[Carl Michael Bellman]] and [[Evert Taube]]) with modern approaches to balladeering.<ref>Alf Björnberg, Thomas Bossius, eds., ''Made in Sweden: Studies in Popular Music'', (2016), New York: Routledge, pp. 53–4.</ref>

=== Netherlands ===
[[Ede Staal]] ([[Warffum]]) (1941–1986) was a Dutch singer-songwriter from the Northern province of [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]] who sang mainly in the Groninger dialect of Dutch.