Now this is an interesting question! I’ll probably have a boring answer, but the question is fascinating.
This is slightly odd for me, because my life has two very distinct parts. I’m going to focus on the things that have shaped me in the second part. Nothing in the first part is worth focusing on, and not much in it was worth listening to (and I don't just mean the music).
- Gillian Welch / Revival
- Greg Brown / Slant 6 Mind
- Townes Van Zandt / Rearview Mirror
- Wilco / Summerteeth
- Jim White / No Such Place
- Beatles / Rubber Soul
- Mississippi John Hurt / (can’t remember the album name)
- Alligator Records / (I think it was their 20th Anniversary compilation)
- Miles Davis / Kind of Blue
- Derek & The Dominos / Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
- Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim / Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
- Neil Young / Harvest Moon
- Rufus Wainwright / Poses
- Spoon / Kill the Moonlight
- Van Morrison / Astral Weeks
- Bob Dylan / Time Out of Mind
There are others, but I imagine this list is already long enough nobody will read it. :)