More for my own satisfaction than anything else, I decided to list various artists and composers who have influenced me over the years, either directly, through their own musical styles, or indirectly, as sources of inspiration and example (not really in any sort of order, just as they occurred to me). Each link opens in its own window:

• Peter Gabriel - Probably my favourite artist, period. An amazing musician and performer, brilliant lyricist and all-round creative genius.
• Youssou N'Dour - Sometime Gabriel collaborator and an amazing voice from Senegal.
• Pink Floyd in general and David Gilmour in particular - What can you say about Floyd that hasn't already been said? I've been a fan since the early Syd Barrett days, and David Gilmour's powerful, emotive guitar style has definitely been a lasting influence on my own.
• Jean Michelle Jarre - One of the best synth performers ever (and also married to Charlotte Rampling, the lucky bastard)
• Jimi Hendrix - Yeah, of course Hendrix was the guy who revolutionized the electric guitar, (and played what NME readers have voted the best guitar solo of all time, "Machine Gun") but that often overshadows the amazingly innovative studio stuff that he also pioneered. Check out Electric Ladyland, and you'll see what I mean.
• Emmylou Harris - A towering talent. Not only does she have one of the most hauntingly gorgeous voices ever, but with her most recent albums she has accomplished something that few artists can aspire to, and even fewer achieve: she has created her own genre of music, and a stunningly beautiful one at that.
• Joni Mitchell - Another major talent that has always determinedly followed her own inner voice. Her 1979 San Diego concert (at the peak of her jazz phase, where she gathered together the kind of band God would assemble if He wanted to listen to some jazz) is still a fave.
• Miles Davis - Just listen to "Kind of Blue". Enough said.
• Fairport Convention, and Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson in particular - Fairport has been one of the most enduring and best loved British Folk-Rock bands -- more than a band, really, more of an institution. Although the personnel have changed many times over the years, they've stayed true to their trad roots, and continue after almost 40 years to still crank it out. Fairport is generally considered to have "invented" the whole genre of British Folk-Rock, and its various ex-pats have spawned (or at least cross-pollenated) literally dozens of offshoot bands, from Steeleye Span and Pentangle to Jethro Tull and Fotheringay.
• Albert Lee - Master of the Fender Telecaster. Dave Edmunds once said that if he could be reincarnated, he wanted to come back as Albert Lee. I don't know about that, but if I could play guitar 1/20th as good as this guy, I'd die happy. Check out his solos in Emmylou Harris's song Luxury Liner.
• Kitaro - Another really interesting synth pioneer. I really admire his philosophy of music as spiritual language.
• Tangerine Dream, and Edgar Froëse in particular - Tangerine Dream has, of course, been one of the leading-edge trance/synth bands for about 35 years now, and there's probably nobody better at painting those great spacy, mesmerizing soundscapes.
• Eric Clapton - Ole slowhand. One of the true masters of the 6-string; what else needs to be said?
• B. B. King - The grand-daddy of the blues, B. B. has probably influenced more rock guitarists than anyone else, ever. Not flashy, but full of feeling. You don't get much better blues than this.
• Paul Simon - A great wordsmith who can also craft the most blindly lovely melodies, Simon is also, along with Gabriel, one of the architects of the long-ovedue surge in popularity of "World Music". You gotta admire him for that.
• Brian Ahern - Producer, and the brains behind the Enactron Truck, one of the first really fully-equipped mobile recording studios. If I had to pick one word to describe what I admire about him, I would say "taste".
• Alan Parsons - Of course, Parson's produced one of the top selling albums of all time, Dark Side of the Moon.
• Bob Ezrin - Produced The Wall. Anybody that could do that and not lose his mind deserves my respect.
• Daniel Lanois - Producer and singer/songwriter from Hamilton who's worked with Peter Gabriel, U2 and Emmylou Harris among others, always to stunning effect. Lanois can sometimes freak out a session musician: "What do you want me to play?" they'll ask, and he'll respond, "I don't care, as long as it has the right feel." That's Lanois for you. He's all about the feel. Beautiful, distinctive work.
• Robert Fripp - One of the founders of King Crimson, he went on to play with Peter Gabriel, and also carve out a niche for himself as an incredibly original prog-rock guitarist with amazing feel and energy.
• Lou Reed - Again, it's all about the feel, isn't it?
• Tony Levin - From Peter Gabriel's backup band. Bass player extraordinaire.
• Chuck Rainey - Another bass player extraordinaire. Worked with Steely Dan, and check out the bass on Rickie Lee Jones's Pirates album. Amazing.
• Manu Katché - Peter Gabriel's drummer. I think this guy must be an alien. I don't think a mere human could do the things he does behind the kit.
• Angus Young - Yeah, the AC/DC guy. Very few guys can do punchy, kick-ass rock guitar like Angus. Often imitated, never duplicated.
• Andrew McPherson - Producer and mastermind behind Eccodek. Delicate, meticulously crafted productions, full of grace and beauty.
• Ambre McLean - Although her music and mine are superficially rather different, I really admire Ambre for her rare ability to create these amazingly complementary moods in both her lyrics and music, so that everything just fits. No mean feat, that. I once heard Alastair Summerlee (the president of the University of Guelph) refer to the "passionate clarity" of her lyrics. Wow, pretty cool.
• Bob MacLean - Probably one of the best fingerstyle guitarists I've ever worked with, Bob's playing has this amazingly precise, delicate transparency that is quite rare, and quite wonderful.
• Tony McManus - Another amazing fingerstyle guitarist. By himself, he has the ability to sound like about four accomplished guitarists playing at once. Watching him perform is kind of like watching a really great magic act.
• Martyn Joseph - Amazing performer, accomplished acoustic guitarist and an absolutely fearless lyricist, his music tells The Truth. It's time someone did...
• Gram Parsons - Classic crash-n-burn tortured genius. Dead at 26 of a drug-overdose (no, that's not the bit that I admire), Parsons was a member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and is widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of the country-rock movement, inspiring such bands as the Eagles, Pure Prairie League and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He is also largely responsible for introducing Emmylou Harris to a wider audience, particularly through his two solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel, in which she sang and played on most of the songs. He was the inspiration for The Stones' song Wild Horses, and also arranged their countrified version of Honky Tonk Woman, Country Honk. He wrote some amazing songs in his all-too-short life.