Who in your mind is an underrated musician deserving of more credit ? Then why do you think they are deserving of more recognition.

I feel on of the most underrated (I think somewhat by choice) is Lyle Mays. He is best known as a member of the Pat Metheny Group but is a fantastic soloist. He is an incredible pianist. All articles and reviews that I have ever read on him state that he is a humble, prefers to be quiet musician who would ratehr the music speak for itself.

As a UK music fan where country is pretty unpopular anway I struggle to find anyone who's heard Shedaisy! They're like a cross between Dixie Chicks and Shania- great opop melodies but they play their own instruments and their christmas album is really experimental with intricate vocal harmonies and Beatle-esque arrangements!

See ya. Littleowl

Shedaisy are OK!

I'm wondering if "underrated" is the term I'd use.
I guess that when I was thinking about joining the music world as a full time professional though I earned enough for two years of college that way, I found I wasn't drawn towards the front of the stage, and for a woman, you pretty much had to be!
I mean, even if you wanted to be one of the boys, it didn't seem to be possible.
I see artists that don't get the appreciation they deserve, but perhaps some of them would prefer staying out of the limelight.

Don't laugh, but I think that Ringo Starr was always treated as a goofball and yet, he did some nice little songs, and never acted like a jerk, and then when he was on the PBS children's series as a character people ridiculed him and I kept thinking...so what?
He could live off of residuals for the rest of his living days and then some, and yet he doesn't.
Perhaps he wasn't as talented musically as the others but so what?

If I had chosen to go on, I think I'd have always chosen some musical career that didn't involve selling myself out.
But then again, I was never a virtuoso, simply a member of the band!

I have to agree totally about Ringo. I think what I mean by underrated is deserving of more respect or to be heard more often. Ringo as a person is very respectable. Of all the Beatles, he was the one that the other three seemed to always look to as their friend. When the Beatles dissolved, there seemed to be little animosity toward Ringo which at that time says a lot.

Lyle Mays got a face slap when Metheny appeared on the Tonight Show in 1992 when Jay Leno had just taken it over. Apparently Leno's Manager referred to him as Metheny's trained monkey prior to a rehearsal. Mays walked off and refused to play. Metheny wanted to follow suit but it was actually Mays who talked him into doing the show totally solo. However, Metheny nor Mays have been back on since. Leno did apologize. Just interesting trivia.

[ 01-20-2002: Message edited by: malizma ]