David Ackles, the singer-songwriter from Rock Island, Illinois, made four albums in his short but artistically successful career. Like the Velvet Underground, albeit in a different genre, he had more influence on other artists than sales. Two of the singer-songwriters that are indebted to him, Elton John and Elvis Costello, got a chance to say thanks and to sing one of his songs on Costello's Spectacle in 2008. That song, "Down River" is a very great one that features a lyric with a one-sided and rueful conversation between the narrator and a character named Rosie, whose contributions to the dialogue have to be inferred. The chorus reveals that the title is a beautiful metaphor for things gone by. The song's introduction is also masterful, as a seemingly slightly out-of-tune piano plays a figure based on the overtone series (the natural extra pitches that are heard above a note), then, when Ackles' educated vocal begins, the piano suddenly sounds strong and resonant (as does the voice). It is very interesting to compare the song with Costello's "Alison" and John's "Your Song" (co-written with the lyricist Bernie Taupin, who produced Ackles' third album American Gothic from 1972), because so many of the elements that they contain are also found in the Ackles masterpiece. They (Costello and John) were right; Ackles was indeed a major influence on them. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iBb5EXi8h0&feature=related