So. Four Winds. I LOVE this song. I love how it sounds country without being country, that is, it doesn’t have country themes. What other songs are similar? I tried making a “Four Winds” station on Pandora but it didn’t really bring the goods.
Every song by Calexico, for one.
I liked Four Winds until I heard Conor Oberst’s voice. The song has a great little fiddle intro.
Also, you might like My Morning Jacket and Kings of Leon. Both of those groups are sort of representatives of an emerging genre that I’d basically call Midwestern rock. You might also want to listen to Grizzly Bear, which is a very folk-influenced lo-fi band which I always assumed was from the Midwest or South but who are actually from Brooklyn, NY. The Drive By Truckers are a contemporary Southern rock group that like to think of themselves as the modern Skynyrd but I hear just as much Neil Young in their style - they can be both very hard-edged and also quite moving. All of these groups have influences of country and folk music, but are ultimately rock groups (although I have a hard time calling Grizzly Bear rock - at least not Yellow House, which I’d call psychedelic lo-fi folk if I absolutely had to label it.)
I don’t like the song much. I do like him, though. If you like that one, I recommend finding his song “Devil Town” since it’s as countrish. Most of his songs aren’t, though, and I vastly prefer the ones that aren’t.
I think you ought to look into what’s referred to as “Alt Country” - Calixico and Drive-By Truckers as mentioned (both really great bands), Rilo Kiley, Over The Rhine, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Magnolia Electric Co., Lucinda Williams, Slobberbone, Alejandro Escovedo, Eleni Mandell (find “Pauline”!), Jim White and Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter are all ones I like to varying degrees that you may as well. Not county at all, but I bet you’d like Damien Rice too for tracks like “Volcano” and “Cannon Ball” but not so much his newer stuff.