Rufus Wainwright
Dreamworks labelmate Wainwright seems to have exorcised the majority of his personal demons (i.e. substance abuse), and now is poised to become this generation's favourite piano man. With a brilliant new album, Want One?, and its second installment, Want Two?, coming early next year, he's an ideal choice for heartsick Smith fans to hang their stocking cap on. (jj)

Joseph Arthur
Arthur qualifies as a songwriter, but "Daddy on Prozac" and "In the Sun" seem to reek of self-destructive tendencies. Maybe it's best not to get too attached to this one. (cc)

Ben Gibbard
The model is already there: see Gibbard's releases as All Time Quarterback and his half of the recent Home split. Gibbard doesn't need to leave the comfort of the Death Cab home to explore the coffeehouses and small clubs of the world, guitar in hand. With a voice as sweet as Smith's and pop sensibility within shooting distance thereof, Gibbard could readily take up the singer/songwriter mantle. (jkb)

Archer Prewitt
Prewitt doesn't have the one-man-band talents that Smith possessed, nor lyrics that are as easy to sing along to, but he is incredibly charismatic, both on record and on stage. That charisma goes a long way. Prewitt also knows how to work horns into his arrangements, something Smith was just beginning to master on his last two albums. (jkb)

TW Walsh
Walsh would need to increase his output to rival Smith, but there's not much else he'd have to do. Not really a typical pop music singer/songwriter, Walsh nonetheless has produced two albums characterized by heartfelt performances and crisp, efficient production. (jkb)

Colin Meloy of the Decemberists
There's acid wit, lush orchestral settings and a surprising degree of violence tucked into Her Majesty the Decemberists, but here, unlike on Figure 8, the knives all face outward. It's the difference between a well-written murder mystery and The Bell Jar, and it's a nice break from too much personal angst. (jk)

Stew
Elliott Smith's "Junk Bond Trader" has one of my favorite lines ever -- "a stickman flashing a fine line smile" -- that encapsulates an entire personality in just seven words. Stew takes it one step further, cramming entire novels into songs like "Naked Dutch Painter" and "Les Arteests Cafe". Plus he seems so sane. (jk)

Vic Chestnutt
The lovely Salesman and Bernadette is as good as the singer-songwriter genre gets, balancing sadness and hope, rough voice and smooth melodies, spare guitar picking and rich backing by the members of Lambchop. Besides, anyone who's been making music as long as Chestnutt has, from a wheelchair for god's sake, seems likely to be with us for a long, long time. (jk)

Mark McAdam
You probably haven't heard of Mark McAdam, but he's got the same sweet knack for beautiful irony, a very similar voice, and a healthy sense of humor. Plus, he's reportedly the inspiration for a character on the Simpsons, and even Elliott couldn't say that. (jk)

Darryl Blood
The Tiltmaster frontman's This Isn't Goodbye brings a collection of warm, simple and lovely songs. Good thing. We've had enough of that lately. (jk)

Kelley Stoltz
Stoltz has a harder edge than Smith, and his pop tastes often lean in more of a psychedelic direction, but his simpler songs, like the straightforwardly gorgeous "Jewel of the Evening", are a great jumping-on point for Smiths fans eager to skew their tastes in a post-Beatles direction. He's also capable of truly glorious eccentricity. (gz)

Thomas Truax
Ex-Like Wow frontman Truax is probably the least Smith-like on this list, but he's also one of the most interesting. His lyrics, while definitely off-kilter, carry a distinctly poetic rhythm, and the homemade instruments that often back his songs -- the Hornicator, the Cadillac Beatspinner Wheel -- demonstrate his taste for hypnotic textures. He's been compared to Tom Waits, but he lacks Waits's baggage, and his weirdness seems more welcoming than stand-offish. Definitely not an obvious match-up for Smith fans, but there's nothing wrong with stretching your boundaries a bit! (gz)

Justin Mikulka
Mikulka builds from the same foundation as Smith -- one guy, one guitar -- but while there's angst aplenty, especially in his early work, Mikulka isn't as "delicate" a songwriter. Mikulka's recent efforts have been raw, country-tinged delights -- but it's been two years since his last solo full-length, so we have no idea what he's doing now. (gz)

Bill Foreman
We've been pushing Foreman on everyone we know for years, and he's an interesting match for Smith fans. He's well-educated, highly inquisitive and closely connected to the world around him, and his lyrical narratives sketch characters with a thoroughness (and literary flair) seldom seen in rock 'n' roll. He also has a knack, rarely demonstrated by musicians, for writing convincingly in the third person -- his characters don't always speak in his voice, which vastly increases the range and potential of his material. His Chevy w/ Balding Tires, which finally receives a professional pressing later this year, is both acerbic and hummable, with a smidgen of outsider weirdness thrown in for good measure. Don't miss it. (gz)