Your 12 favorite alternative country (whatever that is) albums. One album per artist (a solo Ryan Adams album is different than Whiskeytown). Ready. Set. Go. Decoration Day/DBT Trace/Son Volt Dog Days/Blue Mountain Faithless Street/Whiskeytown Hollywood Town Hall/The Jayhawks Magnolia Electric Co/Songs: Ohia Being There/Wilco I Feel Alright/Steve Earle Car Wheels on a Gravel Road/Lucinda Williams The Brooklyn Side/The Bottle Rockets Terroir Blues/Jay Farrar Still Feel Gone/Uncle Tupelo Fox Confessor Brings the Flood/Neko Case
I made mine a baker's.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM
w/o much thought. i think my definition of alt country might be different than others.
ut/anodyne jayhawks/tomorrow the green grass bottlerox s/t blue mountain/dog days lucinda/car wheels steve earle/i feel alright whiskeytown/rfd son volt/trace wilco/being there ra/heartbreaker byrds/sweetheart of the rodeo ny/harvest moon
Sounds like too much work for me, especially with all those little album cover pics. I'm just gonna go with whatever Dime and Cortez said b/c they really know their stuff.
Favorites only, including "cowpunk" (which is what we old geezers called "alternative country" before there was such a thing), in alphabetical order and without fancy-schmancy album covers:
Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker The Backsliders, Throwin' Rocks at the Moon Drive-By Truckers, Decoration Day Golden Smog, Down By the Old Mainstream Jason & the Scorchers, Fervor The Long Ryders, Native Sons Mekons, Fear & Whiskey 6 String Drag, 6 String Drag Supersuckers, How the Supersuckers Became the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World Uncle Tupelo, No Depression Whiskeytown, Faithless Street Wilco, Being There
Didn't have room for: Split Lip Rayfield, Pine Valley Cosmonauts, The Derailers, and that Trailer Bride/Pine State split 7"
Bottle Rockets, The Brooklyn Side Uncle Tupelo, Anodyne Son Volt, Trace Wilco, Being There Jayhawks, Tomorrow the Green Grass Drive-By Truckers, Decoration Day Ryan Adams, Cold Roses Whiskeytown, Strangers Almanac Old 97's, Satellite Rides Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, s/t Drag the River, Closed. Golden Smog, Weird Tales
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals- Jacksonville City Nights The Avett Brothers - Four Thieves Gone Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day Magnolia Electric Co - Josephine James McMurtry - Where'd You Hide The Body? The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree Old 97's - Too Far To Care Son Volt - Trace Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne Whiskeytown - Faithless Street Wilco - Being There
I decided against including Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy or Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, because don't consider them "alt-country" (although I guess they're as alt-country as The Sunset Tree or Josephine). If I included live albums I'd have to add Jay Farrar's Stone Steel Bright Lights, McMurtry's Live In Aught-Three, Calexico's Scraping, and Neko Case's The Tigers Have Spoken
Being There, Wilco Decoration Day, DBT It Still Moves, My Morning Jacket The Magnolia Electric Company, Songs:Ohia Yonder Is the Clock, Felice Brothers My Son's Home, Roadside Graves Midnight at the Movies, Justin Townes Earle Back To Me, Kathleen Edwards Fox Confessor, Neko Case Cold Roses, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals New Seasons, The Sadies Pearls, Frontier Folk Nebraska
Last edited by Duke Silver on Thu May 27, 2010 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'm not really sure what alt country is (although I decided that stuff recorded pre-1990 wouldn't count) but whatever:
16 Horsepower - Sackcloth 'n' Ashes Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day Alejandro Escovedo - A Man Under The Influence Chuck Prophet - Homemade Blood Reigning Sound - Break Up...Break Down Songs:Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) Whiskeytown - Stranger's Almanac Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
All are 4,5/5 albums, except DD which is a 5/5 (for me, of course). and I didn't count Ryan Adams & The Cardinals as a separate band, otherwise Cold Roses would've been there.
I dont know alt country, but i would have guessed the band would be part of it. Or at least Levon's Dirt Farmer? In this crowd i'm surprised to see only one mention of Jason Isbell. And if the dexateens aren't here it must be because they don't qualify, right?
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
For me The Band is disqualified due to the "nothing pre-1990"-rule I used, and I'm not sure I'd call them alt country anyway...but if we're talking quality then yes, I'd rank Music From Big Pink above every album on my list with the possible exception of DD. I haven't heard Levon's solo work enough to be able to include it and I haven't been that impressed by the stuff I've heard by The Dexateens (Singlewide and Lost and Found). Jason would've been on the list if the limit was at fifteen.
I figured the terms "favorites" and "whatever that is" meant there were no rules and we could list whatever we wanted. Though I could be wrong; that happens a lot.
scotto wrote:I figured the terms "favorites" and "whatever that is" meant there were no rules and we could list whatever we wanted.
Correct & correct scotto. Obviously, I stole the "whatever that is" from No Depression magazine. We had this discussion several times on 9B. For me, the term was coined in the late 80's/early 90's to describe bands like Uncle Tupelo that merged elements of country and punk. After the initial wave of bands like Uncle Tupelo, The Jayhawks, and Whiskeytown, the term has come to encompass any bands today that incorporate country music into their sound. I think DBT is a perfect example of this. DBT is not a country band by any stretch of the imagination. However, they do utilize instruments and tempos that are typically found in country music. Much like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's now-famous 1964 definition of what can be considered obscene - "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it . . . " - that's how I determine what I consider to be alternative country (with 'hear' being substituted for 'see'). Well, that, and the post-Uncle Tupelo timeline. Not perfect. Not for everyone. But it works for me.
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM
