Time for everbodys Top Ten list.....

How coincidental! I was just going through my coffee table pile-up of CDs to shift some downstairs to my shelves to make room for some newer ones. On my player a lot recently:
Tift Merrit, Bramble Rose
Allison Moorer, Miss Fortune
Mary Gauthier, Filth and Fire
Bob Dylan Live 1975
Kindred Spirits, Tribute to Johnny Cash by all kinds of great people
Johnny Cash, American IV, The Man Comes Around
Guy Clark, Cold Dog Soup
Merle Haggard, If I Could Only Fly
Rodney Crowell, The Houston Kid
Neil Young, Are You Passionate
Guy Clark, The Dark
Tom Waits, Alice
Tom Waits, Blood Money
Neko Case, Black Listed
The Flatlanders, Now Again
Springsteen, The Rising
Linda Thompson, Fashionably Late
Patty Griffin, 1000 Kisses
Beth Orton, Daybreaker
Beck, Sea Change
Greg Brown, Dream Cafe, and Over and Under
Aimee Mann, Lost in Space
Peter Bruntnell, Ends of the Earth
The Be Good Tanyas, Blue Horse
Josh Ritter, Golden Age of Radio
Going Driftless, Tribute to the songs of Greg Brown
Steve Earle, Jerusalem
HEM, Rabbit Songs
These are all in the category of Alt.Country or Singer/Songwriters and most are from 2002 or 2001.

I think it's called a lot of things, including Insurgent Country, Country/Folk, Country/Rock, Folk/Rock, Cosmic American Music, Roots music, and Americana. Whatever it is, it's good! And I've been listening to it for a long time, ever since the 60's, so it's definitely been around for a while.