I have been a huge fan of “alt-country” (or anything else you want to call it) for about 13 years and would like to add a few more worthy names to the list that haven’t already appeared and have had some recent releases:
[ul]
[li]New Pornographers (who include the already mentioned and fantastic Neko Case - their most recent release is Twin Cinema)[/li][li]Guy Clark[/li][li]Joe Ely (founder of Flatlanders & I believe was in Eagles for awhile)[/li][li]Jimmie Dale Gilmore (also founder of Flatlanders)[/li][li]Robert Earl Keen[/li][li]Laura Cantrell (a country girl and DJ from New York City)[/li][li]Robbie Fulks[/li][li]Jon Langford (this man is a study all by himself as he was a founder of the Mekons, who now lives in Chicago and in addition to own solor releases also formed Pine Valley Cosmonauts)[/li][li]Sally Timms (solo and also with Pine Valley Cosmonauts)[/li][li]Caitlin Cary[/li][li]Casey Chambers (an Australian who has learned her “country”)[/li][li]Stacey Earle (Steve’s sister)[/li][li]Radney Foster[/li][li]Rodney Crowell (an ex-mate of Emmylou)[/li][li]Butch Hancock (also in original Flatlanders)[/li][li]Maria McKee[/li][li]Buddy and/or Julie Miller (an awesome couple - he has played on tour with Emmylou)[/li][li]Old 97’s[/li][li]Throwing Muses (Kristen Hersh & Tanya Donelly both of whom have solo releases)[/li][li]Waco Brothers[/li][/ul]
The only musician whose music I have who has been described as “alt-country” is Michael Hurley, who most often bills his own tunes as “blues”.
My take is that a lot of alt-country bands cut their teeth in Punk rock bands in the 80’s… or at least grew up in or around that culture. As they got older they realized that a lot of the subject matter of Punk and Country are actually the same, and it’s a lot easier to grow old gracefully as a Countryguy than as a punk. It’s true in my case anyway.
You’ve got a lot of good advice here regarding bands to listen to, and I will second the recommendation to check out stuff on Bloodshot Records. I have one arguement with the Neko Case Blacklisted recommendations… I think Furnace Room Lullaby is slightly better.
I will also second some of the previous band recommendations and suggest a good album by them…
Blanche - I We Can’t Trust The Doctors
Calexico - Black Light
Johnny Dowd - Cemetary Shoes
The Handsome Family - Through The Trees
The Knitters - Poor Little Knitter On The Road
Carolyn Mark - The Pros And Cons Of Collaboration
The Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
The Old 97’s - Wreck Your Life
Son Volt - Trace
Trailer Bride - Hope Is A Thing With Feathers
Uncle Tupelo - Retrospective.
Gillian Welch - Hell Among The Yearlings
Wilco - A.M
… actually pretty much all of Hunter Hawk’s list
A couple of others I like are…
John Doe - Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet
Carb Lund - Five Dollar Bill
The Meat Purveyors - More Songs About Buildings and Cows
Herald Nix - What A World
Old Reliable - Pulse Of Light, Dark Landscape
The Sadies - Tremendous Efforts
David P. Smith - Hurtin’ Dance Party
Split Lip Rayfield - Never Make It Home
Jim White - The Mysterious Tale Of How I Shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus
Check out the Lost Highway label. I’m also not sure whether Tift Merritt has been mentioned yet.
TiVo/VCR Alert to Alt-country fans! The Americana Music Awards show is being broadcast by GAC on Monday, September 26th at 8:00 EST. From their website:
An all-star “house band” led by **Buddy Miller ** will participate in several performances by a stellar group of nominees and special guests during the 4th Annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards at the Ryman Auditorium on Friday, September 9 at 7pm CT.
Hosted by two-time Americana Honors & Awards recipient Jim Lauderdale, the evening’s festivities will include appearances by nominees Alison Brown, Hayes Carll, the Duhks, Steve Earle, Mary Gauthier, Tom Gillam and Tift Merritt. There also will be separate performances by Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller. Special guests include** Solomon Burke, Judy Collins, Elizabeth Cook, Radney Foster, Emmylou Harris, Robert Earl Keen, Raul Malo, Allison Moorer, Mindy Smith, Todd Snider and Billy Bob Thornton**.
Would this style of music be what is played on X country on XM Satellite radio?
Yep, that looks like it. The Jr. Brown picture was a dead giveaway.
teeny nitpick: The album is Poor Little Critter on the Road, which is excellent!
Poor Little Knitter On The Road is also great, it’s a tribute album to the Knitters that includes many of the artists and bands already mentioned in this thread!
I’m strongly seconding the recommendations of:
Kelly Hogan (what a wonderful, wonderful voice)
Old 97’s (great fun to see live)
I’ll add Moonshine Willy, Anna Fermin, and, in a slightly different vein, ex-Monkee Mike Nesmith.
The links are to my favorite albums by each.
:smack:
Everybody else has hit it pretty well. I just figured I’d go in on a plug for my favorite alt-country artist (hell, my favorite period): Ryan Adams, who has a new album coming out this Tuesday the 27th (one of three albums slated for 2005. The first, a double disc called Cold Roses, is definitely him going back to his roots after some outright rock records, came out a few months ago). A few others have already mentioned Whiskeytown, of which Adams was one half (along with equally talented Caitlin Cary) the artistic driving force.