Alternative Country Question

[Cripes]

What the hell is it?

 

Now, please don't use this song or that song as an example because I (honest Injun) would not know them. I don't listen much to music. I just play it and it's mostly my own with the exception of a few covers I remember from my acoustic "formative" years. Or, I give a listen to people who post here.

 

Technically speaking, can anyone describe alternative country?

[guit30]

For example, one artist in this genre is Kelly Willis(www.kellywillis.com)

- This genre is also called Americana, it is straight more hard edged country music as opposed to pop rock that is played on so called country radio

J

[denvertrakker]

My take on this is that "alt.country" is anything with a country-ish flavor that doesn't conform to the Nashville formula. Some examples:

 

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Big Blue Hearts

Townes Van Zandt

Lucinda Williams

Steve Earle

Dave Alvin

Cross Canadian Ragweed

 

Even Emmylou Harris, a country stalwart, belongs more in the alt.country camp these days. There's many, many more.

[denvertrakker]

Listen a bit to this:

 

www.kcuvradio.com

 

Streaming audio from a station in Denver that pretty much pioneered the alt.country sound locally, although they've gotten more mainstream Americana lately. Still, you'll hear stuff there you're not likely to hear elsewhere.

[daklander]

IMHO, Alt Country and Americana are not necessarily the same. Americana is that genre of music that can't really be described any other way because it's an infusion, or was, of Folk, Blues, Bluegrass, old time Country and toss in a bit of Rock into a mix that didn't fit any of the other genres. Alt Country on the other hand is, and again in IMHO, hard edged old time Country but may also incorporate Americana which is on the easier side than the Alt Country.

[DonK]

For example, one artist in this genre is Kelly Willis( www.kellywillis.com ) - This genre is also called Americana, it is straight more hard edged country music as opposed to pop rock that is played on so called country radio J

 

Kelly Willis is the first artist that came to my mind as well. When I think of Alt Country, I think of a more roots-oriented genre with a traditional country/bluegrass/folk feel to it. Contrast it with most of what comes out of Nashville these days, which is really just mainstream pop with a twang (remember the Shania Twain double CD that had the exact same songs on both discs, with one supposedly representing the country version and the other the pop version - they didn't really sound very different when you got down to it).

[DonK]

 

My take on this is that "alt.country" is anything with a country-ish flavor that doesn't conform to the Nashville formula. Some examples: Mary Chapin Carpenter Big Blue Hearts Townes Van Zandt Lucinda Williams Steve Earle Dave Alvin Cross Canadian Ragweed Even Emmylou Harris, a country stalwart, belongs more in the alt.country camp these days. There's many, many more.

 

 

Yeah, those are all good examples too. I might add Tift Merritt to your list, and maybe Greg Brown too.

[Muddslide]

I think of bands that have an aesthetic and sort of attitude that comes from a DIY punk ethos...I think a lot of these guys I'm thinking of were probably influenced by punk in their teen years, and as they matured they got exposed to older forms of country music and it moved them so they sort of latched onto it.

 

Most of these bands seem FAR more "country" to me than the Vegas-ized crud coming out of Nashville the past few decades.

 

I'm thinking:

 

Palace Brothers/Will Oldham

Iron and Wine

Band of Horses (little more straight rock influence)

Freakwater (RIP)

Acetone (some of their stuff)

Silver Jews

Lambchop (though they cover all kinds of territory and in some ways seem like a novelty band to me)

Whiskeytown

Sparklehorse

 

...and some would undoubtedly add bands like Wilco and affiliated bands, but I've never been much into them really.

[Cripes]

So, how would one categorize the styles of, say, NRPS or Mason Proffit? I know they might pre-date many here but some should remember them.

[bigou]

What the hell is it? Now, please don't use this song or that song as an example because I (honest Injun) would not know them. I don't listen much to music. I just play it and it's mostly my own with the exception of a few covers I remember from my acoustic "formative" years. Or, I give a listen to people who post here. Technically speaking, can anyone describe alternative country?

 

Go visit this page http://www.gumbopages.com/music/insurgent.html

You have all the essentials bands that start the alt.country thing. If you want to know waht is alt country music you HAVE to listen to Uncle Tupelo.

[willyemerald]

drive-by truckers kick ass

[Terry Allan Hall]

So, how would one categorize the styles of, say, NRPS or Mason Proffit? I know they might pre-date many here but some should remember them.

 

NRPS = "Cosmic Cowboy"/hippy country (nothing wrong w/ that! )

 

Mason Proffit = funkier "Cosmic Cowboy"/hippy country (nothing wrong w/ that, either! )

 

Alternative country = country that doesn't require a barf-bag!

[denvertrakker]

So, how would one categorize the styles of, say, NRPS or Mason Proffit? I know they might pre-date many here but some should remember them.

 

NRPS, or New Riders Of The Purple Sage for the uninitiated, is an excellent example of one of the first bands that might be called alt.country. An offshoot of the Grateful Dead, they more or less pioneered the country-informed rock sensibility (or is that rock-informed country sensibility?) along with the later versions of the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco and others.

 

Mason Proffit, on the other hand, was even earlier, and was more of a....hmmm...ya know, the more I think about it, Proffit may have been the FIRST alt.country band...which is why they never made it big. You know how to spot the pioneers - they're the ones with the arrows in their backs.

[Sportsbiz]

Drive by Truckers

Uncle Tupelo

 

and of course its offshoots, Son Volt and Wilco

[solenoid lopez]

Alt. Country was a term pretty much invented with Uncle Tupelo. Before then country music that wasn't from the mainstays of Nashville or Bakersfield was known as Country Rock (The Byrds, Gram, The Eagles etc) If you have to label stuff then it's best to stick with the term Americana which is pretty much all encompassing.

 

http://www.myspace.com/solenoidlopez

[bbarkow]

Chris Knight

Son Volt

Reckless Kelly

Joe Ely

 

 

[Chirpy_72]

If you want alt country go to the source, where it all began .... Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings !

[AZMLII]

Wouldn't alt. country, in a broad sense, be any non-corporate country, and vary depending on the time period.

 

When the nashville sound was big, wouldn't Waylon, Willie, and the rest in Texas been alt. country. Also, Merle Hagard and Buck Owens in Bakersfield.

 

Now I would think of artist like BR5-49, Junior Brown, Billy Joe Shaver (well he should be listed above also), Ray Wylie Hubbard (also should be listed above), Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen, Reckless Kelly, etc. (this is a quick, and not all encompassing list.)

[Muddslide]

 

If you want alt country go to the source, where it all began .... Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings !

 

 

Good point. Some of the first guys to say "screw Nashville!"

[Chirpy_72]

Couldn't Shania Twain be considered alt-country since her music really isn't country ?

[guit30]

I like Terry's quote

J

[solenoid lopez]

You could say that any music with twang that isn't spawned from the Nashville machine is alt.country but I'm pretty sure the term was thought up by No Depression magazine in the early 90's pertaining to Uncle Tupelo.

[Mikeo]

 

My take on this is that "alt.country" is anything with a country-ish flavor that doesn't conform to the Nashville formula. Some examples: Mary Chapin Carpenter Big Blue Hearts Townes Van Zandt Lucinda Williams Steve Earle Dave Alvin Cross Canadian Ragweed Even Emmylou Harris, a country stalwart, belongs more in the alt.country camp these days. There's many, many more.

 

 

 

 

I listen to a lot of alt counrty bands, toos in some Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Jayhawks, Son Volt, Ol97's, the Bodeans too.

 

 

I can give you ore bands too, if you like that style

[SkullCap]

I can't believe no one's mentioned WhiskeyTown, one of the greatest AC bands of all time. IMHO, DriveByTruckers are not AC, they're straight up rock-n-{censored}in-roll!!!

[Cripes]

NRPS, or New Riders Of The Purple Sage for the uninitiated, is an excellent example of one of the first bands that might be called alt.country. An offshoot of the Grateful Dead, they more or less pioneered the country-informed rock sensibility (or is that rock-informed country sensibility?) along with the later versions of the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco and others. Mason Proffit, on the other hand, was even earlier, and was more of a....hmmm...ya know, the more I think about it, Proffit may have been the FIRST alt.country band...which is why they never made it big. You know how to spot the pioneers - they're the ones with the arrows in their backs.

 

I thought this might be the case.

 

What I think this all comes down to, in my mind, is the difference between the genuine and ingenuine. Funny how people quickly pick up on when they're being scammed.

 

Thanks all. And thanks for the links, too.