Jackson Browne seems like the sort of artist that I would have been interested in, but I've never really delved into his music.  Like James Taylor, I've always been aware of him, but never been interested enough to give him a serious listen.  I did like "The Loadout" when I first heard it, and he had a song in the mid '80s called (I think) "For America" which I liked, but I never bothered to dig any deeper.  I haven't heard any of the songs on the album that you referenced, Brian.  And your hesitant and qualified testimonial hasn't convinced me to run out and buy it yet.  I definitely agree that his excessively earnest delivery is off-putting.

I do have some Pogues records, and I still enjoy listening to them.  My daughter has recently become a fan of theirs, having discovered them through some latter day Irish folk-punk bands that she and her friends listen to (the names all escape me at the moment).  

To introduce another name into the conversation, I just watched Lenoard Cohen's "Live in London" DVD.  It's really a remarkable performance - he's doing 3 hour long shows at the age of 75!  And I really like the arrangements of his songs.  He referred to his bass player as the musical director, so I assume he had a lot to do with it.  There are lots of different voices and instruments, and they all interweave and slip in and out of the mix in a very appealing way.  And Cohen's voice, which was always rather dead sounding to me, seems to have taken on a deeper resonance and nicer tone as he's aged.  I really enjoyed the concert (on DVD - tickets for the recent live show were sold out almost immediately amidst much bitching about Ticketmaster).