stickman Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 So for my History of American Folk Music class we need to write a ten page paper and then present it to the class, so I'm thinking covering alt country as the modern day result of all that we have studied this quarter (history of banjo, minstrels, string bands, recording era, Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, history of bluegrass, Country and Western, Cowboy tunes, etc.). So anyone know of any scholarly books or articles that deal with alt country? I'm thinking I'll focus on Uncle Tupelo while covering some of the other groups like Gram Parsons and then move it into the 90s. Anyway any help is much appreciated! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
deepseacatfish Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Do you have access to Jstor? If so, a quick search of "alt-country" "uncle tupleo" and "gram parsons" turned up a handful of results (not a lot but a few). I would guess there's not a ton of scholarly work on this stuff, but definitely some out there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stickman Posted March 5, 2008 Author Share Posted March 5, 2008 Yeah I checked the JSTOR and found a few articles but the problem is I don't know if there are enough sources around to write a ten page paper. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Steve Brule Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 south by southwest by brian hinton. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tweedy's Gurl Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 jstor is a godsend. you can find the coolest stuff! i'm sure there must be articles about gram parsons, even if there aren't so many about the new wave of alt country. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stickman Posted March 5, 2008 Author Share Posted March 5, 2008 I found a couple of articles and some of the books from class will certainly help, but the greatest thing I found so far is someone's thesis from UofV. It is pretty much exactly what I wanted my paper to be about so I think it will end up being my main source. After some research I've narrowed down the topic a bit. I'm trying to show that alt country in the 90s is a combination of DIY punk aesthetic, indie rock lo-fi techniques (which kind of evolved out of the punk aesthetic) and the themes and styles of old time music while focusing on Uncle Tupelo's music. So I guess what I need ideas for now would be songs to discuss...off the top of my head I would cover No Depression, Whiskey Bottle, John Hardy, Acuff-Rose (for sure), New Madrid, the I Wanna Be Your Dog cover. Any other ideas? PS: All this help from ya'll is really great. You guys have really helped me figure this thing out which I have been stressed about for the past two weeks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
deepseacatfish Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Yeah I checked the JSTOR and found a few articles but the problem is I don't know if there are enough sources around to write a ten page paper.I agree, I don't think those alone would cover it, but a brief search of Amazon's books seems to give at least a handful of well-written (if maybe a little hard to find) books on alternative country, and plenty more on country more in general. You could probably get them through inter-library loan from somewhere I'm also pretty sure that if you're focusing in on specific artists/bands lyrics and quotes from interviews would be equally valid sources to draw upon, though you might want to check with your prof to make sure. I would certainly consider them valuable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tweedy's Gurl Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I found a couple of articles and some of the books from class will certainly help, but the greatest thing I found so far is someone's thesis from UofV. It is pretty much exactly what I wanted my paper to be about so I think it will end up being my main source. After some research I've narrowed down the topic a bit. I'm trying to show that alt country in the 90s is a combination of DIY punk aesthetic, indie rock lo-fi techniques (which kind of evolved out of the punk aesthetic) and the themes and styles of old time music while focusing on Uncle Tupelo's music. So I guess what I need ideas for now would be songs to discuss...off the top of my head I would cover No Depression, Whiskey Bottle, John Hardy, Acuff-Rose (for sure), New Madrid, the I Wanna Be Your Dog cover. Any other ideas? PS: All this help from ya'll is really great. You guys have really helped me figure this thing out which I have been stressed about for the past two weeks. 'we've been had' would be good if you want to bring in the socio-political commentary aspect of punk. ('atomic power' would make a nice contrast.) dude, don't stress. if you need music geek assistance, this is the right place to come! the waco brothers are one of my favorite 'alt country' bands...they've been called 'cash meets clash'...worth checking out in general, and for your paper as well. (jon langford helped to form bloodshot records.) i'm avoiding writing a paper about citizen kane and the magnificent ambersons right now....shoot me a pm if you wanna talk alt. country! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Golden Smoghead Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I really dig New Madrid. I never understood the fountain reference though until I saw it here: New Madrid (from UT's Anodyne)The New Madrid Fault is a major earthquake fault that runs through southern Illinois and Missouri, centered around the town of New Madrid, MO. Local lore has one of the main faults going through the fountain in downtown Belleville, IL. There were huge earthquakes on the fault in 1811 and 1812, one of which apparently made the Mississippi River flow backwards for a short time. There has not been a major quake along the Fault since then, leading many seismologists to forecast that a major quake is overdue. In 1990, a climatologist named Iben Browning predicted that a huge quake would hit the New Madrid fault in December of that year. It was (falsely) claimed that he had predicted the San Francisco earthquake in 1989, and there was a minor media-fueled panic, with some people leaving the region on the days in question. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tweedy's Gurl Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 in southern il, the new madrid faultline is talked about often (i took a geology course and they wouldn't shut up about it.) thanks to uncle tupelo, i actually knew what my profs were talking about from the very first moment! being a wilco junkie has its benefits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tugmoose Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Remember when they tried calling it "Y'allternative"? So ghay. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 First off Gram Parsons wasn't alt.country...but after that, there is a reasonably interesting book called "Are you ready for the Country" about the development of country rock as a whole from back in the 60s including Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Byrds, Poco, Burritto Brothers, etc. etc.. Admittedly I haven't read it but it looks pretty good. No Depression has a reader of early articles that would work for some information too. Try the local library and check out the Rolling Stone History of Rock and Roll. It really can't be that hard to write a 10 page paper on alt.country.rock. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Somnambulist Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Are You Ready for the Country by Peter Doggett This is a pretty good book on the subject. Looks like it's out of print but a library must have it around you. Interlibrary loan, etc. I guess I shouldn't have donated my copy to charity. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Speed Racer Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Look at the bibliographies for everything you find. You can find theory papers applying ideas to various musicial genres. You can apply them to alt.country super-easily, and even critique the theories. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
W(TF) Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I would comb a few issues of No Depression for ideas, maybe contact some of the contributing writers and editors as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 Are You Ready for the Country by Peter Doggett This is a pretty good book on the subject. Looks like it's out of print but a library must have it around you. Interlibrary loan, etc. I guess I shouldn't have donated my copy to charity.No you should have donated it to me.... I never read it but I did look at it at various bookstores over the years. It seemed like I knew most of the stuff so sadly I never bought it. I bet there is a used copy for sale somewhere (yea there are bunches of copies on Amazon...) As mentioned earlier, No Depression has a reader of their early articles, which is always a good way to start. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 Are You Ready for the Country by Peter Doggett This is a pretty good book on the subject. Looks like it's out of print but a library must have it around you. Interlibrary loan, etc. I guess I shouldn't have donated my copy to charity.I thought that book was a pretty enjoyable read. Definitely would help you out with the paper. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I thought that book was a pretty enjoyable read. Definitely would help you out with the paper.From the sound of it.... a 10 page paper, you should be able to plagiarize an entire paper without any problem just from this book alone. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tweedy's Gurl Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 academic dishonestly is not something to be joked about! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 academic dishonestly is not something to be joked about!Hmm...why not...otherwise the president of your institution of higher learning would be SOL as would the head of the journalism school at Northwestern. etc. etc. borrowing others work (or just making shit up) is sadly a common occurance. Besides, this poor soul who is asking our advise seems very stressed out about a rather short paper that many of us here could write in our sleep. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Grieving Angel (or, What Happened to alt.Country) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Good Point.... No mention of Bloodshot or the insurgent country movement however....Ryan Adams solo career was launched by them as well. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I just found that on the Ryan Adams board - speaking of the demise of things, it's a dam shame he deleted his youtube account. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Golden Smoghead Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I would argue that the resurgence of bluegrass-related music can be seen as a new iteration of alt.country ... Personally I think there has always been a market for other-than-Nashville country music. Nashville is so saccharine, so pop, that as far back as you want to look (trucker music in the 60s, Willie and Waylon's Outlaw stuff in the 70s and 80s, Steve Earle in the 80s) there are people with country-western musical sensibilities out there making a living by trying to subvert the Nashville scene. I think the alt.country guys tapped into some of that anti-Nashville-ism but like that article points out, most of them lost their ties to that springboard country sound. So I would say that, rather than bemoan the loss of Wilco and Ryan Adams to other musical realms, folks should get out there and support the musicians who are still tied into roots music. There's plenty of it out there and it's not even very hard to find, with all the festivals being taped and even broadcast on cable, etc. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 It is strange to me at least that No Depression is going out of business. It appears that the advertising base has never been larger; there are hundreds and hundreds of roots type musicians out there, giving it a go, so I just don't know why things seem in such dire straits other than the entire print industry is feeling the same effects that the music industry (and every other industry) is feeling. I suppose it is just too difficult on some days to run a music magazine, record label or record store with the internet being such a large factor. Certainly from knowing and watching Bloodshot since nearly day one, things have changed over there with more of an emphasis on indie rock, neo-soul, singer songwriter and other genre's which are not all that connected to alt.country. Did bluegrass ever go away? Actually bluegrass is a weird type of music demographic wise. If you attend events in the heart of bluegrass territory (the area along the Virginia/North Carolina border where the more mainstream groups are) the audience is old old old (when I have been to stuff I appear to be one of the younger audience members and I ain't that young anymore...), but somehow it still seems to be flourishing in some aspects. I think Oh Brother Where Art Thou brought some fans into the fold, but I suspect this is a short lived phenomenon and that along with a myriad of other musical styles bluegrass may be headed to a much smaller niche. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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