Exercise caution anytime you see the words “singer-songwriter” used to describe an artist’s music.

Rather than use the phrase as it was originally meant to be used - to literally describe any artist who writes and sings his/her own songs, regardless of genre - music journalists have hijacked the phrase over the years, adopting it as a crutch to delineate any artist whose work features acoustic guitar or piano and soft, introspective vocals. It’s extremely deceptive.

Anywhom, here’s our slightly modified take on the “singer-songwriter” playlist, in which we’ve included a few names synonymous with the genre as well as a few underdogs:

Randy Newman, who is perhaps one of the more underrated artists in music history. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, long before he became Mr. Hollywood and cashed his first Disney check, he was actually known for writing some of the darkest and wittiest story-songs of all time that depicted the Deep South’s seedy underbelly. We may or may not have lifted the title of this playlist series from his third record.

Adrienne Lenker of Big Thief. Her solo album, simply titled “songs,” is better than any Big Thief album and reminds me of the frustration I have for not being able to properly fingerpick a guitar.

Lissie. I first heard her cover of Kid Cudi’s generational super-hit “Pursuit of Happiness” in Guy Mariano’s Pretty Sweet section. Watch that movie if you haven’t. Anyways, this is the only exception on this list, as it obviously wasn’t written by her. But we’ll let it slide since it’s such a departure from the original.

Cory Hanson. Chief songwriter and frontman of Wand, one of the best bands to come out of L.A. in the last 30 years. We’ve included our favorite track from his first solo record The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo, which flew super far under the radar when it came out in 2016.