Iowan wrote:I like Tomorrow the Green Grass a lot, but Hollywood Town Hall is the iconic Jayhawks album.
Loved their choice of 1372 for Lucero. I realize that is not a popular opinion here.
1372 is easily the best thing Lucero has ever done, or likely ever will do. Lots of great bands will never make a record anywhere near as good as 1372 is. it's not only my favorite Lucero record, it's one of my favorite records period, and I will stand on any mother fuckers coffee table in my Chuck Taylor's and say that.
Iowan wrote:I like Tomorrow the Green Grass a lot, but Hollywood Town Hall is the iconic Jayhawks album.
Loved their choice of 1372 for Lucero. I realize that is not a popular opinion here.
1372 is easily the best thing Lucero has ever done, or likely ever will do. Lots of great bands will never make a record anywhere near as good as 1372 is. it's not only my favorite Lucero record, it's one of my favorite records period, and I will stand on any mother fuckers coffee table in my Chuck Taylor's and say that.
Yeah, it's damn near fucking perfect. Respeck knuckles.
Iowan wrote:I like Tomorrow the Green Grass a lot, but Hollywood Town Hall is the iconic Jayhawks album.
Loved their choice of 1372 for Lucero. I realize that is not a popular opinion here.
1372 is easily the best thing Lucero has ever done, or likely ever will do. Lots of great bands will never make a record anywhere near as good as 1372 is. it's not only my favorite Lucero record, it's one of my favorite records period, and I will stand on any mother fuckers coffee table in my Chuck Taylor's and say that.
Yeah, it's damn near fucking perfect. Respeck knuckles.
Y'all are crazy. I don't dislike it like I did at first, but to say it's anywhere close to Tennessee, Nobody's Darlings or That Much Further West is insane, especially on an alternative country list.
I am admittedly a Bottle Rockets fanboy but should Brooklyn Side not be higher than 21 ?
To be honest 3 or 4 of my personal top 5 would probably come out of the UT/Son Volt/ Bottle Rockets, St. Louis scene.
The obligatory, highly ranked Buddy Miller album kinda bugs me too. I'm just not a huge fan of his.
jr29 wrote:The obligatory, highly ranked Buddy Miller album kinda bugs me too. I'm just not a huge fan of his.
I'm a fan of his mainly due to Spyboy being Emmylou Harris' backing band for a while. His wife's record (Broken Things) that also made the list has been recommended to me for forever and a day but I still haven't checked it out. As best I recall, her voice is an acquired taste. On the "obligatory" note, deserving or not, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale as the ubiquitous faces of Americana gets under my skin more than just a little bit. What I've heard by Buddy Miller has a good deal of character to it but the majority of what I've heard by Lauderdale strikes me as bland. Same for many of the artists that have come to represent this rebranding of alt.country as "Americana". I know there are exceptions but that's been my overall impression. By the way, Lauderdale is going to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association next month in Nashville. Again, he is more than deserving of this honor for all he has done but in all honesty, he doesn't represent the strain of Americana that influenced me most. In my experience, it was Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Patterson Hood, Ryan Adams, Caitlin Cary, Cooley, Brent Best, Kevin Russell, Jimmy Smith, etc. that made a real difference in what I listened to. That's not to even mention the likes of Jason Ringenberg and Maria McKee if you want to go back to the cowpunk era of the 80's. You can also throw Alejandro Escovedo in there for good measure as well as the Alvin brothers.
jr29 wrote:The obligatory, highly ranked Buddy Miller album kinda bugs me too. I'm just not a huge fan of his.
I'm a fan of his mainly due to Spyboy being Emmylou Harris' backing band for a while. His wife's record (Broken Things) that also made the list has been recommended to me for forever and a day but I still haven't checked it out. As best I recall, her voice is an acquired taste. On the "obligatory" note, deserving or not, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale as the ubiquitous faces of Americana gets under my skin more than just a little bit. What I've heard by Buddy Miller has a good deal of character to it but the majority of what I've heard by Lauderdale strikes me as bland. Same for many of the artists that have come to represent this rebranding of alt.country as "Americana". I know there are exceptions but that's been my overall impression. By the way, Lauderdale is going to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association next month in Nashville. Again, he is more than deserving of this honor for all he has done but in all honesty, he doesn't represent the strain of Americana that influenced me most. In my experience, it was Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Patterson Hood, Ryan Adams, Caitlin Cary, Cooley, Brent Best, Kevin Russell, Jimmy Smith, etc. that made a real difference in what I listened to. That's not to even mention the likes of Jason Ringenberg and Maria McKee if you want to go back to the cowpunk era of the 80's. You can also throw Alejandro Escovedo in there for good measure as well as the Alvin brothers.
Lauderdale wrote "You Don't Seem To Miss Me' which was a hit for Patty Loveless in the 1990's. He also sang on "Car Wheels" I believe. Beyond that, I don't know of anything he's been involved with that I'm a fan of. He and Miller write incredibly bland songs, imo.
The fact that Lauderdale is getting a Lifetime Achievement Award before Jay Farrar says it all. Although, Jay might not even accept the thing if it was awarded to him.
Also, I've thought for years that Dave Alvin should be in the role of Miller or Lauderdale. His knowledge of roots type music is second to none and he has put out high quality records and involved himself in interesting projects for well over 30 years. He is also a much better orator than either of those guys. They have a Sirius radio show that I listen to often, but some of the extended pauses during their conversations are downright uncomfortable.
I agree for the most part with Jr, although I did enjoy (although quickly forget about) Lauderdale's record (or one of) w/Robert Hunter and Buddy Miller has a few amazing songs and he does great work with Patty Griffin.
I'm also on board with Dave Alvin deserving the "godfather" of Americana status that Miller and Lauderdale both seem to inhabit. If not Alvin, the someone like Jimmie Dale Gilmore or Joe Ely (or motherfuckin Steve Earle).
The fact that this discussion is taking place in a thread about alt. country irks me to no end. To me, there is one distinct difference in alt. country and Americana, and that's that the "alt" denotes that punk (or some sort of alternative music or ethos) has to be in the mix, while Americana is just another name for (mainly white) roots music. There's absolutely nothing remotely punk or alternative about Buddy Miller.
I'm also 100% in agreement with tinnitus. It was nice to see Howe Gelb (and Calexico, for that matter) get mentioned in the newest issue of Rolling Stone.
Loved reading this and look forward to checking out ones I've never heard. My immediate reaction was no Whiskeytown? I like Jacksonville City Nights but I much prefer Stranger's Almanac and Faithless Street. I also agree that there should of been something like James McMurtry. Is Todd Snider alt-country or strictly folk? I'd put East Nashville Skyline on there somewhere but I could be wrong on my genres.
dee dee wrote:Loved reading this and look forward to checking out ones I've never heard. My immediate reaction was no Whiskeytown? I like Jacksonville City Nights but I much prefer Stranger's Almanac and Faithless Street. I also agree that there should of been something like James McMurtry. Is Todd Snider alt-country or strictly folk? I'd put East Nashville Skyline on there somewhere but I could be wrong on my genres.
I'd say Todd fits.
Considering the list is limited to only 50 entries I think Paste did a pretty good job even though there's some I wouldn't necessarily put on my list of 50 favorites. A lot of what I consider seminal are records by the likes of Whiskeytown, the Backsliders, 6 String Drag, Two Dollar Pistols, etc., all of which are local but at one time or another were all embraced by the hardcore No Depression crowd. Still, it's somewhat understandable that all of them would not make this list. Of these, Whiskeytown is arguably the best known and it's a wonder that Strangers, one of the most highly regarded albums of the genre, did not make the cut. I love most of Jacksonville City Nights but it's not a record I consider essential.
Whiskeytown is the only band that's really surprising isn't on there. They're on Mt Rushmore of alt.country/Americana. Everything else is just personal taste
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever
Just saw it; no Gourds? And goddamn Avett Brothers in the top ten?!?
After a quick look over, it's about half right, half ridiculous. If you're gonna include pre alt country bands like the Mekons, Jason and the Scorchers, Lone Justice etc you may as well go back to Gram.
Smitty wrote:Just saw it; no Gourds? And goddamn Avett Brothers in the top ten?!?
After a quick look over, it's about half right, half ridiculous. If you're gonna include pre alt country bands like the Mekons, Jason and the Scorchers, Lone Justice etc you may as well go back to Gram.
I get Gram as a progenitor but I've always fought the notion that Uncle Tupelo was the first in the genre instead believing it was Jason & the Scorchers. There is no alt-country without them and I can't say there's no Jason & the Scorchers without Gram.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved
I'm sure this is ground well covered here before but when I think of alt.country and all that came before, it at least goes back to Hank Williams, Sr. for me. From there, it goes to the Cosmic American/Country Rock groups of the mid to late 60's into the 70's. Then comes the cowpunk era of the 80's which leads into the alt.country era of the late 80's to the present day. This also encompasses singer/songwriters like John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker and Outlaw artists such as Waylon, Willie and the boys. Though often overlooked, I've also heard more than one case made for Michael Nesmith being a pioneer of country rock (or whatever you want to call it) and that Gram was largely taking his cues from him. I also think it's fair to say that Southern Rock also figures into the mix. If you look back it, Southern Rock and the Outlaw Country movement started to gain ground at around the same time. For those that may not have read it, here's what I found to be a very informative interview with Joe Swank where he gets into breaking down the differences between alt.country and Americana. Joe is not only a longtime support of the Truckers but he's also been working behind the scenes in the business for a long time not just as musician but also as a label rep (Yep Roc, Bloodshot) and radio personality. We also have him to thank for turning Patterson onto "Pay No Attention To Alice" by Tom T. Hall. If my memory serves, Patterson thanks him in the liner notes to Killers & Stars.
emandrisdad wrote:How about The Long Ryders? I would have to include Native Sons on that list for sure.
Without a doubt but anything from the 80's seems to be included here more as an afterthought and/or a way of acknowledging the roots of alt.country in some way. Then again, that's part of limiting the list to 50 albums. There's simply no way of including everything that's worthy of mention.
alt.country, to me, originated as a scene in Chicago in the late 80's/early 90's, then capitalized on by Bloodshot. That's where it should start.
Obviously it transcends Chicago and there were vibrant scenes in Denton, Austin, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, Atlanta, etc etc but Chicago is the home base, even though some of the scenes popped up at the same time.
I've been fascinated by roots rock/country punk bands Jason and the Scorchers, Rank and File, Long Ryders, Green on Red, the Gun Club, the Blasters, the Beat Farmers, Blood on the Saddle, Lone Justice, the Silos, the Del Fuegos, Giant Sand, the Dream Syndicate, the Del Lords, etc etc and they're the missing link between country rock of the seventies and alt country of the nineties, but I don't really consider them part of either subgenre; they're obviously progenitors and the biggest influence musically and in ethos but I consider them something else.
