Here is my music+comedy library.
Along with the guilty pleasures of '80s hair metal
and new wave, these artists are my favorites.

Major Artist U2 Mark Knopfler They Might Be Giants Talking Heads David Bowie Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers The Police The Cars King's X   Kevn Kinney*   Plus the best comedy... Monty Python

(Favored related artist, other related artists) (Passengers, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen) (Dire Straits, The Notting Hillbillies) (John Linnell, Mono Puff) (The Heads, David Byrne, Tom Tom Club, Jerry Harrison) (Tin Machine) (Tom Petty, Mudcrutch, Traveling Wilburys) (Strontium 90, Sting, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers) (Ric Ocasek, The New Cars) (Bob Watkins, Doug "dUg" Pinnick, Ty Tabor, Jerry Gaskill, Platypus,    Poundhound, Supershine, The Jelly Jam, Xenuphobe, The Mob) (drivin' n' cryin', Kevn Kinney's Sun Tangled Angel Revival)       (Eric Idle, John Cleese, Graham Chapman)

I listened to folk/rock-ish country as it grew out of "outlaw",
or I should say...
I was alt-country before alt-country was cool:
Junior Brown (as traditionalist as Merle Haggard if possessed by a mean guitar demon)
Steve Earle (potentially as legendary as Johnny Cash)
Robert Earl Keen (as clever a Texan as Waylon Jennings)
Dwight Yoakam (as eclectic and iconic as Willie Nelson)

And these Carolinians get an honorable mention:
The Jarvis Brothers (Orangeburg - truly phenomenal a cappella roots and gospel quintet)
John Boy & Billy (Charlotte - distillation of their southern-style comedy reveals uniquely creative wit)
Sintax the Terrific (Greenville - oddly enough I have a buddy who is an underground hip-hop artist)

Artists I need to see live soon:
David Byrne
Junior Brown
Steve Earle
And I hope these tour again:
David Bowie
Ric Ocasek