Fred Neil - 1957-1961 (The Rare Singles Collection) (2011)

Other than Bob Dylan, Fred Neil was perhaps the single most influential singer-songwriter of the '60s US folk boom. With his cavernous baritone and loose-limbed acoustic guitar strumming, he was probably the first singer-songwriter to integrate jazz and blues into his sound. His unique style influenced everyone from Tim Buckley to Crosby, Stills & Nash, and over the years his songs were covered by everyone from Beth Orton to Tony Bennett. Sadly, the notoriously troubled Neil only left behind a couple of fantastic albums before going into seclusion in his native Florida in the early '70s. He never again released a record and hardly ever performed before his death in 2001.