Beat Farmers oh yeah! Saw them and their alter egos The Incredible Hayseeds many times back in the day.
RIP Country Dick Montana. |
|
I have to mention The Everly Brothers, from whom lots of Bands and Groups (The Beatles merely copied the brothers and Buddy Holly), including Alt. Country ones, got their harmony formula. Of course, the brothers got their harmony from the old Bluegrass guys like The Louvin Brothers (as just mentioned by the always-on-target Marty) and The Carter Family. Around the time The Byrds and others were moving into Country, The Everly Brothers put out their "Roots" album, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band put out their influential "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" album, both studied by the younger guys coming up. |
I agree with the Byrds and Jayhawks, great bands. I ended up with a good many JL Lewis albums- Jimmy Swaggart's cousin I think, piano playing fool! |
Another one that deserves mention is Junior Gone Wild. They played country inflected music with rock n roll energy and a sometimes very funny lyrical take on "the morality play" that informs a lot of Louvin Brothers inspired country music. |
maybe the most obviously overlooked and most "alt" of all.. Neil Young.
|
another "not band" JJ Cale.
|
|
Absolutely Slaw. The Byrds were pioneers with their Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweethearts of the Rodeo albums, right around the time of Dylan’s John Wesley Harding and The Band’s Music From Big Pink, two other hugely influential Country-ish albums. Not enough credit is given to bassist Chris Hillman for the Byrds move into hard Country; he had been playing Bluegrass before joining The Byrds, the other guys being more Folkies. It was Chris who brought in Gram Parsons, and the two of them started The Flying Burrito Brothers, from which The Eagles emerged. |
|
After reading the posts above, I think The Jawhawks should be included here.
Going back to roots..
Flying Burrito Brothers
Eagles
CCR
|
Gurf was Lucinda Williams' original guitarist/bandleader/producer, and is great on his own as well. He is playing and producing around Austin now. Buddy Miller, the best bandleader/guitarist/singer/producer in the world currently---a real MVP! Makes great records, with and without his wife Julie, as well as Emmylou Harris. Someone already mentioned them, but surely the best and most influential Band who can be called A-C has to be The Band, who were an alternative to the whole musical and cultural climate of the late 60's, showing the way out of that mess. And we would be remiss in not reminding ourselves that Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis are about as Country as you can get, and were very alternative to Nashville for long periods of time. Okay, they're not Bands, but..... |
Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland, Jason Isbell, Robert Earl Keen, Chis Knight, Stoney Larue, Bleu Edmonson, Roger Creager, Whitey Morgan, Randy Rogers, Whiskey Myers, Hank III, Cory Morrow,
Jerry Jeff Walker (live) is the first I heard sneaking into my otherwise rock and roll circle back in the 70's. |
Sons of Bill......saw then in a small venue in Charlotte and bought all 3 CD's after the show.....if you like Steve Earle & Poco, chances are you will like these guys....by the way Poco should be on this list!! |
Screwed up again, should be EASTbound Jesus... |
|
gurf morlix is a texas legend for playing and record mastering... |
Buddy & Julie Miller, checkout their self-titled album from 2001.
The Sadies, try Favourite Colours. |
Shovel and Rope are an awesome duo. Check them out on YouTube. My wife and I saw them in concert a few months back and they blew the entire crowd away! |
The recommendations keep coming. As I mentioned before, this genre is pretty broad. I really like the new disc from the Tim Lee 3- Devil's Rope. Tim Lee is 1/2 of the 80's band the Windbreakers. The Tim Lee 3 is Tim, his wife Susan, and a drummer. They are based in Tennessee and their sound is country/garage rock with great harmonies and a jangly Rickenbaker lead guitar. Samples available on amazon or their website. |
|
The Be Good Tanyas. Also Neko Case. |
There are some good bands on this list, but I have not seen anyone mention the drive by truckers |
The Comatose Brothers - Respect the Van is terrific! |
Another guy around the edges of the alt-country silo that deserves mention here is the late Jay Bennett. His solo stuff, his work with Edward (Edwin?) Burch, and his contribution to Wilco form a pretty impressive body of work IMHO.
Marty |
Loomisjohnson my pleasure and glad you liked him! I would agree he is not quite alt-country but also not quite rockabilly that was what really pulled me in the freshness of his sound. A bit of Queen and Leon Russell in there as well. |
jond, i did check out this roddy wallston on mog and he's damn good--more hard rockabilly than altcount, but who needs labels, right? probably killer live. thanks for the tip. |
Sorry, name of album (CD) is HOT Fish Laundrymat, not Fresh. |
Also, if you like the Wood Bros., check out the band King Johnson, "Fresh Fish Laudrymat". KJ was Oliver Woods band, before the WB. Can be found on ebay from time to time. Great stuff. Now, back to alt country.... |
Toddnkaya, difficult to classify. I know the media loves to pigeonhole everything into nice neat little boxes, but I think we can all agree one size seldom fits all. That being said, to me the Wood Bros. are funky, soulful,bluesy and not afraid to throw in some shades of gospel. Dont know how you classify that, so I just call them one of the best bands to come along in years. And if you should have a chance to see them live, dont miss them. |
I LOVE the Wood Bros., but I also would not have thought of including them in a list of country artists. I'll have to ponder that... |
Welp, the powers that be consider "The Wood Bros." alt.country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alternative_country_musicians |
Winoguy, How do you classify them? Americana? |
I have not the knowledge or desire to compile a list for others to scoff at.
I did listen to Alt. during the late 90's and saw many of the bands mentioned. I moved to another area and lost touch. Interested in reconnecting so interesting thread for me.
Thank you for the recommendation. I WILL get it. |
Acman3, I wasn't aware you were the author of the dallas observer article of which I was referring.
Anything with "Alternative" in it is a very blurred line tobesure. At the end of the day tho it's all subjective and a matter of personal taste.
Alternative - for the last 23 years - equates to commercial.
Go do your self a favor and get the 2011 vinyl release of "Frontier Folk Nebraska."
There you go Acman, something useful for ya
FWIW Wilco's debut AM was every bit "alt.country" and where they left off with UT... hence the life long labeling.
peace.... |
Alternative country is hard to define. Even current Bluegrass could be considered alternative country. When Nashville praises Taylor Swift but considers Rhonda Vincent the red headed stepchild? FWIW I don't consider The Jayhawks or Wilco alt-country! |
Agree about the Wood Brothers, awesome band for the un-initiated, but I would not consider them "alt- country". |
You all should listen to The Wood Brothers, all three of their studio albums are awesome !!! Great live band too !! I've seen them twice. |
Thanks to the useful people who have added to my knowledge and collection. |
Noted, the reason people have posted for a favorite band, if it belongs on the best ever list or not, is to make others aware of a band they might not know about, so they can pick up that bands music, not to actually ARGUE.
Then you come along and kick everyone in the groin, but have nothing of any value to add to the discussion.
What kind of person acts like that? |
This list from the "ahem", dallas observer (The 10 Greatest Alt-Country Bands Ever) is a joke and no better than the "gazillion" that come before it. Just do a search on OPs title on the inter webs.
With the exception of UT/Wilco/Son Volt, the rest in this lame duck three legged dog list should not even be on one titled: "Greatest Alt-Country Bands Ever"
This a a HUGELY populated style of music today - thanks in no small part to folks like the Flying Burrito Brothers; The Byrds; The Band et al.
Maybe I should put one together so we can all just move on and get over the self important hey look at me I can name bands I don't listen to or have their records but I think are "Greatest Alt-Country Bands Ever...."
Nah, it aint worth it. |
Thanks for all the responses. There are some great referrals in here. I think that this genre is hard to accurately define. I really enjoy old Marshall Tucker. Jolene and Jupiter Coyote are also excellent bands from the 90's. Chuck Prophet and Green on Red are fantastic. While they are countrified, I don't necessarily place them in the Alt-country world. Maybe alt-country is the catch all category carrying over the California sound of the Byrds when bands don't fit perfectly into rock and roll. Regardless of genre, there is some great original stuff here. I have ordered HGM and the Volebeats so far. |
Junior Brown is sensational, maybe more "retro" than "alt."
Heybale is also quite good. Amanda Pearcy's second CD, "Royal Street" is very good and worth checking out.
These are all local Austin people and that's all I know much about lately. |
While speaking of Hiss Golden Messenger, here is another HGM project out now http://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/golden-gunn |
We are big Ryan Adams fans. Easy Tiger gets a lot of play. |
Wilco Alt-country? Puh-leez. |
Admittedly, I'm not really much of a country music fan however I'm a fan of the Massachusetts band Beat Circus and their record 'Boy from Black Mountain' won the 9th Annual Independent Music Award for Best Alt/Country album in 2009. If your not familiar with Beat Circus, then I recommend that you give them a chance with this record.
Best. |
The Gourds & Giant Sand (or Howe Gelb) are a couple I like |
HGM certainly would be Alt Country in my book, pretty damn pure form of it at that. Their last 2 releases, Haw and Lord I Love the Rain are right up there with Poor Moon. Give them a go if you have not already. I'd recommend the Bandcamp downloads as they are 24bit and Haw comes with a great 4 track bonus EP.
Phosphorescent is probably the one I play more than any other. One of my all time favorite song writers. My wife is about to ban me from playing "A New Anhedondia" (track 7 on his latest) anymore, it seems to be on here at least a couple times a day:) |
If Hiss Golden Messenger qualifies as Alt-country, IMHO they go right to the top of the list. However, they sound more Alt-acoustic blues to me. Either way, Poor Moon is a stunningly good record.
Marty |
