10 Essential Alt-country Albums

[myboyblue]

I wonder where prefixmag is. I mean wouldn't you think they would want to be part of the discussion. ha.

 

I am prefixmag. I just wanted everyone to know what the essential alt-country albums were.

[CortezTheKiller]

I wonder where prefixmag is. I mean wouldn't you think they would want to be part of the discussion. ha.

If it meant more issues pushed or sites visited, he'd jump on in.

[the carlos]

oh I know. I was being ornery.

[Analogman]

punk/indie...etc - I always thought of Uncle Tupelo as a cross between the Replacements and traditional country.

 

That's it - that is how I see it, pretty much.

 

I always think of that line of Jeff's about Johnny Cash and Henry Rollins.

[CortezTheKiller]

Guys like Waylon, Willie, Johnny, etc. definitely did country music differently that what the Nashville-based studios were mass producing. Just because it was a different or alternative take on the country scene at the time, doesn't make it "alternative country" as it has become to be known as today. I'm sure their music influenced the music of many of the "alt.country" artists of the last few decades. But they (the dudes mentioned in the 1st sentence) are not part of the genre themselves. Just country musicians. And great ones at that.

[Spawn's dad]

my understanding is guys who grew up listening to punk making country tinged music.

[Orkie]

I'll buy that. But I refuse to say he's "alt.country."

 

 

You'd be wrong of course.

 

http://folkmusic.about.com/od/artistsaz/p/Townes_profile.htm

 

Alternative Country, Singer/Songwriter

 

 

Anyone who thinks alt.country is soley defined as a mixutre of punk/country is barking up the wrong tree. That's just one aspect.

[bobbob1313]

Holy shit.

 

 

DICK

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels?

 

BARRY

(defensive)

No. The Righteous Brothers.

 

DICK

Oh well. Nevermind.

 

Barry bristles and moves slowly in on Dick.

 

BARRY

What?

 

DICK

Nothing.

 

BARRY

No, not nothing. What's wrong with

the Righteous Brothers?

 

DICK

Nothing. I just prefer the other

one.

 

BARRY

Bullshit.

 

ROB

How can it be bullshit to state a

preference?

 

BARRY

Since when did this shop become a

fascist regime?

 

ROB

Since you brought that bullshit

tape in.

[aricandover]

You'd be wrong of course.

 

Anyone who thinks alt.country is soley defined as a mixutre of punk/country is barking up the wrong tree. That's just one aspect.

 

you probably liked it when they started referring to Neil Young, as the "Godfather of Grunge"

[you ever seen a ghost?]

one could certainly argue that artists such as Gram Parsons and/or Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds or even Dylan (with Nashville Skyline) started alternative country, but i think you have to make a timeline somewhere. for example, in those days, mainstream country was still country and so these artists were merely dabbling in the country genre. later, when country became vocoder-ized, cross-overed and for the most part, shit, you can consider bands that were doing classic country to be "alt country," because, by now, what they were doing was alternative to what was popular. late 80s-early 90s, the birth of Uncle Tupelo and the birth of the term itself. taking that into consideration, alt. country applied as it was at the time and even currently then encompasses traditional country (which today is no longer mainstream) and psychedlic country or cow punk or whatever, just as indie music encompasses multiple genres. i mean, really you are dealing with semantics here. one example would be the indie labels these bands were a part of. you could put out a release that sounded exactly like top 10 radio, but if it was on Merge or Sub Pop, would it then be considered "indie rock"?

 

...and besides, the exclusion of the Uncle Tupelo stuff is explained in the intro to this top-10 list.

 

-justin

[Synthesizer Patel]

i personally take alternative country to refer to all country music which positioned itself on the opposite side of the populist market place from the 1950s on, after people suddenly realised money could be made out of them. so, basically when the nashville sound emerged - and the sound was 'tailored' to suit the mass market-place. a bit like how classical music and pop music split at the start of the last century, and went their seperate ways. to be totally honest, i don't really think about the term much anyway; there's just good country music and there's bad. however, if alt country music does mean punk/country - i can say pretty categorically, "i don't like alt country."

[Spawn's dad]

who cares what the intro says, the list and the premise it's based on are dumb.

[people are leaving]

one could certainly argue that artists such as Gram Parsons and/or Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds or even Dylan (with Nashville Skyline) started alternative country, but i think you have to make a timeline somewhere.

If you absolutely need to make a timeline, one could go back a couple of years : The Basement Tapes.

[myboyblue]

You'd be wrong of course.

 

http://folkmusic.about.com/od/artistsaz/p/Townes_profile.htm

 

 

 

 

Anyone who thinks alt.country is soley defined as a mixutre of punk/country is barking up the wrong tree. That's just one aspect.

 

Orkie - Did you invent alt.country? Your knowledge on this topic appears to be immense.

[you ever seen a ghost?]

>If you absolutely need to make a timeline, one could go back a couple of years : The Basement Tapes.

 

no doubt.

 

'cause you know, "one must always flush out his house/if he don't expect to be housing flushes."

 

-justin

[mfwahl]

No Depression, The Alternative Country (Whatever that Is) bi-monthly magazine

 

I like "whatever that is" and leaving it at that, but I do cringe when the term alt country is used to refer to anything besides a late 80's/early 90's phenomenon. Dylan as alt country, you gotta be fucking kidding me.

[Doug C]

who cares what the intro says, the list and the premise it's based on are dumb.

So you agree that the introduction says something other than 'the following is a best of list'? Who cares what it says? Introduction - something written at the beginning of a book explaining the contents, or said at the beginning of a speech. (dictionary.com)

 

I'm just taking the piss, as my pal Dudley says. If you think that it's stupid and dumb then you think that it is stupid and dumb. Fair enough. It still isn't intended to be a 'best of' list. And actually, the introduction is the premise and that is what the list is based on. Still taking the piss.

[Orkie]

one could certainly argue that artists such as Gram Parsons and/or Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds or even Dylan (with Nashville Skyline) started alternative country, but i think you have to make a timeline somewhere. for example, in those days, mainstream country was still country and so these artists were merely dabbling in the country genre. later, when country became vocoder-ized, cross-overed and for the most part, shit, you can consider bands that were doing classic country to be "alt country," because, by now, what they were doing was alternative to what was popular. late 80s-early 90s, the birth of Uncle Tupelo and the birth of the term itself. taking that into consideration, alt. country applied as it was at the time and even currently then encompasses traditional country (which today is no longer mainstream) and psychedlic country or cow punk or whatever, just as indie music encompasses multiple genres. i mean, really you are dealing with semantics here. one example would be the indie labels these bands were a part of. you could put out a release that sounded exactly like top 10 radio, but if it was on Merge or Sub Pop, would it then be considered "indie rock"?

 

 

The Jayhawks were doing this before Tupelo, and Townes before the Jayhawks. Alt.country is basically "intelligent" country for the most part.

[aricandover]

The Jayhawks were doing this before Tupelo, and Townes before the Jayhawks. Alt.country is basically "intelligent" country for the most part.

[mfwahl]

The Jayhawks were doing this before Tupelo, and Townes before the Jayhawks. Alt.country is basically "intelligent" country for the most part.

Did you just call a bunch of musical legends dumbass rednecks?

[Spawn's dad]

So you agree that the introduction says something other than 'the following is a best of list'? Who cares what it says? Introduction - something written at the beginning of a book explaining the contents, or said at the beginning of a speech. (dictionary.com)

 

I'm just taking the piss, as my pal Dudley says. If you think that it's stupid and dumb then you think that it is stupid and dumb. Fair enough. It still isn't intended to be a 'best of' list. And actually, the introduction is the premise and that is what the list is based on. Still taking the piss.

 

 

It says it's a list of 'essential' alt country albums, and it simply isn't. It's a few paragraphs of justifying a list of albums by a bunch of bands when there are generally better albums by those bands, or albums by other bands that could be better justified as essential. If the guy had simply said here are a bunch of albums in a this genre I like, then no blood no foul. But their tagged as essential so starting from the title the whole thing is misguided.

[LouieB]

This is incorrect.

Hmm..how do you figure it is incorrect. Just how old are you? I figure you are one of those folks who sticks anything that isn't straight up Nashville into alt.country, but the fact remains no one called it that until the early 90s, prior to that it was country rock.

 

LouieB

 

Orkie - Did you invent alt.country? Your knowledge on this topic appears to be immense.

I think we got someone trolling here.....

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

The dude is part right:

 

The band formed in 1985 in Minnesota with Mark Olson (acoustic guitar and vocals), Gary Louris (electric guitar and vocals), Marc Perlman (bass) and Norm Rogers (drums). Their first album The Jayhawks was released by Bunkhouse Records, a small independent label, in 1986.

 

Before leaving the band in 1984, Dade Farrar introduced its members to Mike Heidorn, the younger brother of his girlfriend; Heidorn then joined the group as their drummer.[4][5] The Plebes then decided to change its name to The Primitives, a reference to a 1965 song by psychedelic rock group The Groupies.[4][6] Due to the unpopularity of punk rock in the St. Louis area, The Primitives began to play blues-oriented garage rock at fast tempos. They performed regularly at a wedding hall in Millstadt, Illinois, where Tweedy's mother Jo Ann would collect the cover fee.[5][7] Wade Farrar was the lead singer of the band, but his commitment to Southern Illinois University and an attempted enlistment in the United States Army meant he was only able to dedicate a small amount of time to the group. Also, Heidorn broke his collarbone during a concert in 1986, which caused the band to go on hiatus. Jay Farrar and Tweedy continued to write songs and perform at Heidorn's house while he recovered, and by 1987 they had restarted the group. . .

 

Shortly after Uncle Tupelo's signing, Giant Records changed its name to Rockville Records. The band's first album for Rockville No Depression, was recorded over ten days in January 1990, at Fort Apache South recording studio in Boston, Massachusetts. The album was released on June 21, 1990, and the band celebrated by playing at Cicero's for two nights.

[M. (hristine]

my understanding is guys who grew up listening to punk making country tinged music.

Yes.

Before there was punk there could be no alt country.

[Spawn's dad]

barking up the wrong tree