I recommend Daniel Johnston. He was an alternative artist from Texas that produced music from outside the music industry. His first fans came from him depositing cassettes of his songs into people's food bags at the McDonalds he worked at. His life was tragic and beautiful, and so are his lyrics.

[hider=Daniel Johnston "I Live My Broken Dreams"][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICLXH8wdXhk[/youtube][/hider]