James Talley

A country maverick who wandered alongside the outlaw movement of the mid-1970s, James Talley has chosen to follow his own path in subsequent years, carving out a distinct niche among folk-blues singers. During his period on a major label in the mid-1970s, Talley gained acclaim for such albums as Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got a Lot of Love, but hits eluded him. He nevertheless carved a reputation as a songwriter, thanks to covers of his tunes by Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Cash, and was enough of a cult sensation to earn the attention of President Jimmy Carter. Talley took an independent route in the mid-1980s and maintained a career as an Americana outsider over the next decades, reissuing his older work and putting out new records, such as 2024's Bandits, Ballads and Blues, on occasion.