What unknown musical artist would you like to share with your fellow audiophiles?

One man’s unknown artist is another’s very well known one. Audiogon members are unusually aware of cult-level artists, unheard of by the great unwashed.

But I must take issue with your opening premise @mitchagain, that audiophile’s "are the ones with their priorities straight". I was a music lover long before an audiophile, and my hi-fi is nothing more than a conduit to the music I love. Excellent sound is nice, but the music comes first. A fair percentage of my favorite music is of marginal sound quality; I’m not going to not listen to it because of that.

"Audiophiles are more selective in their musical purchases"? Because their systems are better than non-audiophiles, they are more selective? In terms of sound quality, sure. But I know a lot of non-audiophiles whose musical tastes are at least as "selective" as that of many audiophiles, if not more so. Ah, the audiophile bubble!

Exactly @whart. Modern "Country" became big business with that ass hat Garth Brooks, but is even worse now. How disgusting are Rascal Flatts? There’s a couple hundred phony Country acts now, one worse than the next. Johnny, Merle, Buck, and Hank are puking in their graves.

Oh, and for you young fellers who haven't heard (or even heard of) Dave Edmunds, do yourself a huge favor and pick up his Get It album. You will hear Rock 'n' Roll performed as Keith Richards wished he was capable of. Chuck Berry guitar, Everly Brothers harmonies, and Sun Records production. 100 proof, Grade A, All American Rock 'n Roll, baby. His 1970's and 80's albums (and productions of other artists) are absolutely essential listening.

Yeah wolf, Edmunds made two Love Sculpture albums, one sort of Progressive, one pure Blues, like Peter Greens’ Fleetwood Mac. But it was when he went solo that he really found his forte. His hit single of Smiley Lewis’ "I Hear You Knocking" in 1970 (on his debut album, ironically entitled Rockpile) provided him with the $ to invest in Rockfield Studios in Wales, where he spent the next few years teaching himself how to recreate the sound of both the Sun Records Rockabilly he loved, and the Phil Spector Wall Of Sound he used on his second album, Subtle As A Flying Mallet. My all-time favorite Rock ’n’ Roll guitarist/singer/producer.

Speaking of under-acknowledged guitarists, Danny Gatton is as great a player as the world has ever heard. Vince Gill, himself a fine guitarist, nicknamed him The Humbler. A Telecaster master.

I hesitate suggesting any artist, as someone here is bound to have heard of him or her, some even having actually heard his or her music. For instance, some have never even heard of Dave Edmunds, others are very aware of him (and his band with Nick Lowe, Rockpile). Same with NRBQ, and lots of other great bands.

But I feel safe in recommending a few:

- Van Dyke Parks. Brian Wilsons' collaborator (lyrics) on the ill-fated Smile album, his first album Song Cycle is like nothing else you have ever heard. Not Rock, not even Pop, it is indescribable. Not for dummies ;-) .

- Iris Dement. Not for those who have a low tolerance for Bluegrass or Hard Country, she is held in very high esteem by her contemporaries Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Joan Osborne, and many others.

- Julianna Raye. She hasn't made an album in many years, but her Jeff Lynne-produced Something Peculiar is fantastic.

Thanks @mitchagain. I know of Duke from his work with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, and Bill Morrissey, and I have his own Lava album on CD. Great player! As is Jim Campilongo, who is pretty well known in the Bay Area, where I grew up. Jim has worked with another Telecaster player (pretty much all my favorite guitarists play them) I like a lot, Al Anderson, formerly of NRBQ.

I myself have worked with quite a few Tele players, including Gattons’ old friend and bandmate, wildman Evan Johns. When I recorded with him (on his Moontan album), he plugged straight into a Fender blackface Super Reverb, cranked up to 10. Damn was that thing loud! His normal rig was a Deluxe Reverb, but he didn’t have it with him in Atlanta for the albums’ recording. Evan finally died of liver failure (my God did that man drink) just last year.

Wolf, I drove to Austin with my bass player partner in 2008, to see what the housing market was like. We were thinking of moving there and hiring ourselves out as a rhythm section (but ended up not doing it). We checked into a fleabag motel and went downtown to get a beer. The bar we went into had a small stage (I don't think there's a bar in Austin without one ;-), on it a drumset and a couple of amps. The band was on break, but soon returned to play another set. To my utter surprise, the guitarist was Redd Volkaert! For those who don't know, Redd was Merle Haggards' guitarist for many years, including 2008. I assume Haggard was off the road, and Redd was living in Austin, doing casuals around town.

Arbert Lee (Emmylou Harris, The Everly Brothers) use to play this little bar in Ventura (on the coast between L.A. and Santa Barbara), and on those nights the place was always packed with guitar players, coming to watch, listen, and learn. He always closed the night with "Country Boy", a real showpiece for his abilities. By the way, Alberts' current drummer is a friend of hi-fi retailer Brian Berdan (that's how I met him), and his speakers are stacked Quads!

@mitchagain, great stuff! The 1st and 2nd Graham Parker albums feature the playing of a couple members of Brinsley Schwartz (the band), including Brinsley himself. Speaking of that band, Nick Lowe, himself a member, said they were trying to sound as much like The Band as they were capable of. Another member was Ian Gomm, who is also a relatively-unknown real good artist.

Dwight Twilley (the group) is a particular favorite of mine, especially when drummer/singer Phil Seymour was a member (the first two albums). Their Sincerely debut album is in my all-time Top 10 list. It's really, really good.

John Hiatt is very well known, and his Bring The Family breakthrough album is unbelievably great. Not just great songs and singing, but also the playing of Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, and Jim Keltner. I saw that line-up live, and it was a high point of my musical life.

Loudon Wainwright III is known, but not as well as he deserves. A great, great songwriter, his Last Man On Earth album is particularly good. By the way, early in his career he wrote a song memorializing the birth of his son Rufus, "Rufus Is A T*t Man" ;-) .

I hope everyone knows all about Marshall Crenshaw, who has made a lot of great albums. He plays almost all the instruments on his #447 album, which is packed with great songs.

Another relatively unknown working in the singer/songwriter style is Michael Kelsh, whose Bill Halverson (Clapton, Hendrix, Albert King, Neil Young, Beach Boys, Cream, C, S & N, hundreds of others) produced Well Of Mercy is fantastic. The album was executive-produced by Rodney Crowell, who I hope everyone knows of.

A great early-70's artist almost forgotten by all but the most ardent Pop fans is Emitt Rhodes, whose self-titled debut album is fantastic.

Everybody knows Crazy Horse as Neil Young's band, but they made a great album of their own in 1971, when guitarist Danny Whitten was still alive. Also on the album are Nils Lofgren and Jack Nitzsche (who did all Phil Spector's orchestrations,  as well as a lot of soundtrack work. His own St. Giles Cripplegate album from 1974 is semi-Classical, and very interesting. He is also on Neil's Harvest album, and produced this Crazy Horse debut. Other production work he did was Graham Parker's Squeezing Out Sparks album, and three for Willy DeVille, a great singer), as well as Ry Cooder on a few tracks. Great album.

Martin Mull is now known more as an actor (he was on the original Rosanne TV show), but he made some great albums in the 70's. His turf was similar to another interesting songwriter, Dan Hicks---ironic humor. I find both much more clever than the better known Frank Zappa.