This has got to be a short list. The one artist that immediately comes to mind is Tom Petty.

Date of Birth: October 20, 1950
Into the Great Wide Open: July 2, 1991
Wildflowers: November 1, 1994

Any others?

That’s a tough one. As I go through my music collection, the only artist I see who might qualify is Charlie Daniels, who did “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” when he was over 40. (Though I’m not sure the album that is on would be his best.)

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Good albums but Full Moon Fever is his best. 1989.

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Year: 1998
Age: 45

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Steve Earle, The Mountain
Year: 1999
Age: 44

Earle is the rare musician who had a sustained artistic peak after 40. Even if one were to disagree that The Mountain is clearly his best album, it is indisputable that all of his best work--a list including El Corazon, Transcendental Blues, I Feel Alright, and Jerusalem--came after 1995.

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It is a tough one. Other than jazz, it's generally artists I don't listen to and I won't discuss things of that nature.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Wayne Coyne in his 40's when Yoshimi's released. Yoshimi the apogee of an arc of drug-fueld creative output by Steven Drozd ( shepherded by Coyne and the Mercury Rev producer ) that begins with Zaireeka

Stephin Merritt had to be pushing 40 when 69 Love Songs came out

James McMurtry (b 1962) Childish Things 2005. First fully McMurtry album as he self-produced with his own band; vs his initial albums with Mellencamp's band and a couple in between with Natalie Maines' dad running things in studio.

Dave Alvin?

Fred Eaglesmith in his 50's when he pulls off his greatest achievement, getting Tif Gin to leave her husband for his old ass. 6 VOLTS (2012)

Long time nashvegas touring/studio/whatever musician Buddy Miller (b 1952) finally teamed up with his wife (writer of songs for other artists for years) Julie Miller to produce a series of stellar records: from 1995's Your Love and Other Lies through 1999's Cruel Moon and ending on the most complete/polished iteration of the same love sucks, you suck, when you coming back? record over and over, 2002's:

Johnny Dowd, I think he was a union carpenter in upstate NY who started releasing albums in his 50's after he retired from the union? something like that

This tune has an Ethan Frome thing going on:




Dowd's mad prolific, releasing 16 and counting albums since his 1998 debut Wrong Side of Memphis . Maybe due to his popularity in Europe, shit gets experimental/noisy,

I suppose that's the one that's widely considered her best, but I have to go with the eponymous album that was her first on Rough Trade.

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Don't take it personally.

I'm gonna disagree. The Hard Way is his best record as far as I'm concerned.

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Don't take it personally.

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We have some good responses so far. A handful of thoughts:

1. I actually like Full Moon Fever better than the two Petty albums I listed, but there is a significant contingent of fans who think Wild Flowers is Petty's best;

2. I think the Lucinda Williams response might be the best of them all, because Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is widely considered to be her best album, http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/artist/Lu ... liams.htm;

3. I happen to be a big fan of the tracks on the Essential Steve Earle which were all released before he turned 40, but his post 40 work is also excellent. Also, I don't think he was truly sober until he turned 40. Therefore, he might have finally unlocked his true potential at that point;

4. Hussra, other than James McMurtry and the Flaming Lips, I've never heard of a single artist to whom you've cited. I remember both the Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi being critical darlings, and the Soft Bulletin was released right before he turned 40. Either way, it seems like he had his peak right around turning 40. McMurtry is also a pretty good one, the tracks off of Live in Aught Three are all pretty good and most of those had to have been released before he was 40. However, Childish Things and Just Us Kids are both great albums, you can flip a coin either way.

I started the thread because I found it interesting how so many artists have physical energy in their 40's (for instance, they can still put on a good concert) but lack creative energy. It's scary how rigid and calcified the human mind becomes as we age.

You could make a case Meat Loaf's BOoH 2 was better than the first Bat Out of Hell. Not a huge Meat Loaf guy though.

Bob Dylan - Time out of Mind. He was in his 50s.

True, a stretch to pimp the Lips as over 40 creators. Plus Drozd and his drug habit were the driving creative musical force on those records and he's a decade younger than Wayne.

Lonesome Bob in his early 40's when he released one of the better Americana/Y'alternative type records from the heyday of that sound, 1997:



Lonesome Bob, from New Jersey and then Nashville, think he lives in Pittsburgh now; played hoops for the Quakers at Penn in the 70's, after Trump was there. Things Fall Apart spectacular record on the defunct Chicago indie Checked Past up on Francisco (3940 N.Francisco is what it says on my copy); driven by Tim Carroll's guitar playing and Wilco's drummer and Alison Moorer's vocals. But, yeah, the songs were all written years before, during Lonesome Bob's time as a songwriter for other artists in Nashville. Tunes he either couldn't sell or if he did they didn't catch on as hits.

James Murphy / LCD SS might be another shoehorn-able into the over 40 group. Sleaford Mods old AF already when they started. Don't think anyone would confuse what they do with music.

I am aware he is not the favorite of most posters here, nor of mine, but Clapton's Unplugged came out in 1992, when he was 47. It was by far his most popular album, if that relates directly to "best"- of course, that is debatable.

That's definitely a great album, as is Happy Woman Blues. But I think Car Wheels is the high point of her use of physical locations to explore emotional states.

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Good album by a guy who has made a lot of good to great albums. I wouldn't rank THW among his top five.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Well, you know I'm a punk rock guy. There are parts of The Hard Way that are almost like hardcore. That fuckin' record is intense. Then it ends with that beautiful lullabye.

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Don't take it personally.

William Shatner, Tom Jones.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Let England Shake by PJ Harvey?

The Wind is not only Warren Zevon’s best album, but is probably the best album by anyone over 40.

Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose
Year: 2004
Age: 72

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Traveling Wilburys?

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

That is an interesting take. Time Out of Mind is a fine album, but it felt like more of a return to his 60's form than anything. I would be interested to hear why you think it's better than his stuff from the 60's and Blood on the Tracks.

I'm a big Zevon fan and I don't think The Wind was any better than Sentimental Hygiene or Mr. Bad Example, let alone the best post-40 album by anyone. For me, it's the self titled album, Excitable Boy, and then everything else. In your opinion, what songs on The Wind are better than: The French Inhaler, Mohammed's Radio, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Carmelita, and Desperados Under the Eaves?

I'm not a country music fan, but for those who are, there has to be another one of her albums that's more highly regarded.

Gotta ask W_Z. I think Blood on the Tracks is the best album ever made by anybody, so I think that lets you know where I stand on Dylan’s best album.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul