Bluegrass borrowed liberally from the singer-songwriter tradition that emerged in the 1960s and 70s — folk-revival writers, Texas writers, the wave of confessional voices that came out of clubs in New York, Nashville, and Austin. John Prine’s “Paradise” and “Angel From Montgomery” became bluegrass standards in their own right. Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty,” “If I Needed You,” and “White Freightliner Blues” did the same. Gordon Lightfoot (“Early Morning Rain,” “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”), Steve Goodman (“City of New Orleans”), Guy Clark (“Dublin Blues”), Paul Simon (“The Boxer”), James Taylor (“Sweet Baby James”), and Utah Phillips (“Rock Salt and Nails”) round out the list. Singer-songwriter material that bluegrass bands have made their own.

Each song’s page on Picker’s Guide has chord charts, lyrics, recordings, and song history.