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Any Alt-Country fans out there?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by spikechiquet, Sep 25, 2010.

  1. vicd

    vicd Active Member

    The first Flying Burrito Brothers: Gilded Palace of Sin / Burrito Deluxe (CD)
    The two solo Gram Parsons albums
    The Dillards : Wheatstraw Suite
    The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark
     
  2. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Since they haven't been mentioned, I'll give a shout-out to a Southern college bar circuit fave from Baton Rouge, Dash Rip Rock.

    But for me, it really begins and ends with Uncle Tupelo. Those guys were the Guns N Roses of alt-country as far as I'm concerned. Pick up a copy of their "Anthology," you won't be disappointed.
     
  3. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    That's because other than Gold the majority of stuff Ryan Adams has done since Whiskeytown has been pretty weak. :)
     
  4. Shifty Squid

    Shifty Squid Member

    Blue font? Not really sure here.

    Gold was too poppy and commercial, I think. Had some solid music on there, but it was too long and pretty uneven as a whole. Heartbreaker is probably still his best solo record, though Love Is Hell, Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights are all excellent. I still think 29 is quite underappreciated, but I'm fighting an uphill battle with most people on that one.

    I do agree to the extent that I think he got a little stale as the years went by alongside the Cardinals. He had never been with one cohesive set of bandmates for that long at any point in his life, and I felt like his music didn't grow much during that time. You basically knew what you were going to get from them by the time Cardinology came out. They were phenomenal live, but the studio stuff lacked the sense of adventure and "What will he do next?" you had with the best of RA's releases. I'll be interested to see what he produces now that he's free to do whatever he wants again.

    I haven't seen Neutral Milk Hotel mentioned, so I'll toss them in there, along with the V-Roys, Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, Gillian Welch, Caitlin Cary, the Avett Bros, Centromatic, Golden Smog and Lucinda Williams.

    Oh, and DBT hasn't really lost anything, I don't think. Their only problem is they set the bar so high with Southern Rock Opera and Decoration Day back to back a few years ago that it's difficult for them to meet that each album. I actually don't think Dirty South was all that good, but The Big To-Do may be their best album since Decoration Day. Different strokes, as they way. Anyway, they've already completed another album, so we'll see where they go from here fairly soon.
     
  5. lesboulez

    lesboulez Member

    as mentioned earlier, lucero. but you must see them live.

    glossary, american aquarium, two cow garage, the only sons and anything jon snodgrass is involved with...
     
  6. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    Maybe I should have used the blue font. But other than Gold, I haven't really cared for much of his post-Whiskeytown output. Didn't like Heartbreaker at all.
     
  7. Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell

    Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell Active Member

    All of these, plus:

    Gene Clark: "Gene Clark With The Gosdin Brothers"
    Townes Van Zandt: "Townes Van Zandt", "Our Mother The Mountain", and "Delta Momma Blues"
     
  8. Shifty Squid

    Shifty Squid Member

    Interesting. I think you're the first person I've heard say that. I think Heartbreaker is one of the best albums of the decade. I think Gold is watered down and fairly mediocre, relatively speaking. To each his own, of course. Just says something about our taste. I do think if Gold had been whittled down to about 10 songs (omitting "Enemy Fire," "Gonna Make You Love Me," "Harder Now That It's Over," "Touch, Feel and Lose," "Tina Toledo's Street Walking Blues" and maybe a couple more), it could have been very good. Might have been even better if they replaced a few songs with stuff from the bonus disc. "Rosalie Come and Go," "Cannonball Days," "The Fools We Are As Men" and "The Bar Is A Beautiful Place" are all at least as good as anything on the regular album, IMHO.

    But, again, it's all just opinions. Some people actually consider Springsteen part of this genre, EStreet. I assume you're a fan. Not sure if I'd lump Springsteen in with these bands, though I think I get the inclination.
     
  9. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Yeah, they're traditional, "roots" country, like Old Crow Medicine Show. Both are outstanding.
     
  10. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Steve Earle
    Todd Snider

    Does Robert Earl Keen count? Or is that just country?
     
  11. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    I'd add Joe Ely to this discussion too.
     
  12. maberger

    maberger Member

    if alt-country is anything not standard-issue nashville, then:

    lyle lovett and kd lang (absolute torch and twang) are the king and queen

    ryan bingham, jamey johnson are great.
    hank III is awesome.
    the latest son volt album is terrific.

    i really like br-549 too

    great topic!
     
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