1 - Marty Robbins - I was three when I heard "El Paso" and realized you could use a song to tell a story.
2 - The Beatles - I was six when I saw the Jack Paar Show filmclip. My life changed that night.
3 - The Who - Keith Moon was my first drum hero - I fell in love with his energy, but also Pete Townshend and John Entwistle's amazing story-songs.
4 - Elton John - At thirteen, a friend loaned me the first U.S. album over a weekend. I went downstairs to the old upright piano and didn't come back up until I'd taught myself to play half the album.
5 - Neil Young - A little easier to learn than Elton John. I just played their albums over and over until I could play and sing all their material. Then I began to develop my own style of singing & songwriting.
6 - Yes - Almost forty years after discovering them, I'm still knocked out by their no-holds-barred creativity. And, of course, this was the original home of the most intelligent drummer of all - Bill Bruford.
7 - Peter Gabriel/Genesis - Wonderfully weird songs and arrangements. Gabriel left, Collins became the first drummer/frontman, and both acts continued to put out inspired music - especially Gabriel!
8 - The Dixie Dregs/Steve Morse - One of the strangest (but greatest) hybrid stylists ever. Jazz, metal, funk, classical and country all on one album side - which probably explains why everyone ignored them.
9 - Pat Metheny - I'd always listened to jazz, but Metheny made it warm by incorporating so many different elements (and percussionists) from around the world. Great jazz, but also, great jazz SONGS!
10 - Tom Petty - I can be a slow learner, and I just discovered Petty last year. I love the simple, "Don't-bore-us, get-to-the-chorus", approach.