No need to fear -- there's more to country than what radio would have you believe.
It’s safe to say country music gets a bad rap. Sure, having grown up in the heartland, there’s the safe argument that this critic is more than a bit biased, but hear me out: there’s a lot more to country music than you’ll ever hear on your local Clear Channel station. And when it comes to contemporary music with its lyrical finger on the pulse of life in America as we see it in 2012, there’s little out there which can rival the honesty of a good country song. You just have to dig for something a little more “alternative” to the mainstream drivel. There’s not a Taylor Swift to be found on this list – rather, the emphasis is on variety, which is both the spice of life and the ultimate ingredient in the best music you’ve spent way too long being afraid to enjoy.
#10 – Middle Brother
With lead vocals drawing heavily on early Neil Young, this alternative country super-group features members of Deer Tick, Dawes and Delta Spirit. The combination of three top-notch singer songwriters into one group makes for the ultimate headphone fix, and their self-titled debut out last year is one of those keepers you find yourself pulling out time and again when you need country-tinged rock with real soul and grit.
You can’t go wrong with either of their initial bands either, but throw these three together and the result is hard to ignore.
Categories: Music, PJ Lifestyle Columns
Tags: 10 best alt-country finds, alt-country, Amanda Shires, Chris Knight, Craig Finn, Dustin Kensrue, Fred Eaglesmith, Jason Isbell, Lucero, Middle Brother, Raul Malo, stop hating twang, Will Hoge
You are very late to the Fred Eaglesmith fan club. Don’t bother with his new stuff. Go with the late 90′s to early 00′s.
Also, ain’t nothin wrong with a little George Strait. Or a lot of George Strait, actually.
Better late than never. And incidentally, the song I featured by Eaglesmith (“Water in the Fuel,” off Lipstick Lies and Gasoline) is from 1997, right at the heart of the era you mentioned … so I don’t quite know where I went for his “new stuff”
No, you’re right, and LL&G is perhaps my favorite album… I was just thinking that if someone new were checking out F.E. they should stay away from the past 3 albums. Also the shows are not the same anymore. His shows used to be the most amazing shows ever- but when Willie P. Bennett died things went downhill. Fred is a hell of a songwriter but he is lost without Willie. It hurts me to say that. Fred used to be my religion, practically.
The stuff coming out of Nashville is NOT all garbage. A lot of it (Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban) just belongs on the pop charts instead. But the slightly-older crowd like George Strait, Alan Jackson, Trace Adkins, Toby Keith, Ronnie Dunn… they are all still going strong. Have you listened to Glen Campbell’s new album?
Another Fredhead here. If you get a chance to see him live jump at it. His band suffered from the loss of long time mate, the late great Willie P. Bennett and his new stuff maybe a little less accessible and slightly less countrified but still well worth a listen.
I haven’t heard any of these, but I will check them out when I have time.
It’s unfortunate Nashville doesn’t do more to promote artists like this, because the stuff they put out on country radio and video channels is God-awful garbage, and that includes off-key warblers like Taylor Swift and Jason Aldean.
I grew up hearing people like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and David Allan Coe from my parents, so I know there is such a thing as good country. But with the exception of a few artists here and there, I mostly stick to rock these days.
Robert Earl Keen.
Also check our Radio Free Texas online for a nice variety of Red Dirt music. This little Texas band is also getting alot of attention not only for their song writing but for their “genetic harmony”:
http://www.relatemag.com/2012/02/the-iveys-days-and-nights/
Thanks for this. Old school Country was pretty much the soundtrack to my childhood. I turned away from Country in my 20′s but the older I get the more my tastes turn back to what I grew up with. Except for Chris Knight and Raul Malo, I haven’t heard of anyone else on this list and didn’t even know Malo had a solo career. I listened to all the examples you posted and liked all of them to some degree, so, Yay! new music.
If you haven’t already heard of them, Reckless Kelly, Micky and the Motorcars and The Greencards are worth a listen, although The Greencards are probably more alt-Bluegrass than alt-Country.
I’m a big fan of Reckless Kelly, and was lucky enough to get a chance to interview them for my own site back in October 2010:
http://hearhearmusic.com/2010/10/07/interview-reckless-kelly/
Nice interview. I’m sure you probably know that Micky and Gary Braun from Micky and the Motorcars are the younger brothers of Willy and Cody from Reckless Kelly. Well, I got to see Micky and Co at a large motorcycle rally in Galveston, Texas back in October. They put on by far the best show of the three acts that played and did a killer version of Reckless Kelly’s Nobody’s Girl. I had never noticed that Micky and Willy had co-written that song til it was mentioned during the show.
Just watched the video about the Pinto Bennett tribute. That stuff sounded great. I’ll have to check out the original Pinto Bennett stuff as well. Great site, I’ll be checking back.
I thought I hated country music until I started listening to Outlaw Country on Sirius. Good Stuff, Just wish they would play more Beat Farmers.
http://bit.ly/xJXsXp
Yes I have, even wrote to Rolling Stone about their coverage of the album and was printed in their letters page. Glen’s album is quite solid, and I really liked his Grammy performance. Too bad he’ll quite soon have no memory of this left.
Great list. I am a huge Drive-By Truckers fan and was heartbroken when Jason Isbell left after 2006′s A Blessing and a Curse. However, my heart was quickly mended when Isbell released Sirens of the Ditch. That is still my favorite of his albums. I’m actually glad he left DBT now since it allows me to get more Jason Isbell while still enjoying DBT. His live shows are pretty epic too but he’ll have to do some work to reach the wild abandon and explosive guitar fury of a typical DBT show (although his 20 minute plus Never Gonna Change-> Stone Free->Never Gonna Change encore the last time I saw him was really close). Those who are inclined to enjoy the more rocking stuff shouldn’t be put off seeing him live by his new album (my least favorite) which is very slow for the most part. He still brings the heat live.
Anyway Jonathan, is it just me or does the song Codeine from Here We Rest sound like it could have been written by Steve Earl?
I definitely can hear the Steve Earle influence, but a great deal of modern alt-country grew out of that era in the eighties when Earle wrote his strongest material, before he hit the cocaine too hard and became a liberal protest singer.
I always thought 16 Horsepower were underrated.
If the only thing that city people knew about country music is what they hear on the so-called country music FM radio stations, they have no idea what they’re missing.
I sometimes find myself driving late at night or early in the morning listening to WSM (650 kHz) out of Nashville, though I am several states away. The station isn’t perfectly clear, but there is a sort of old-fashioned romance of forgotten AM radio in there too.
And when I’m at home, I have streaming audio stations to listen to. Frankly, I tire of the homogenized programs and formats that have taken over most radio stations. I really enjoy radio stations where you have very little idea what you might hear next. Sadly, there must not be a whole lot of money in programming like that, or there just aren’t that many brave business leaders who are willing to take a chance on the artistry of real discography.
Why he assumption of country hate?
Especially when pop-rock is so profoundly boring.
Leave us not forget two of these folks’ alt-forerunners: Robbie Fulks and BR549. The album cover of Fulks’s “Country Love Songs” is worth the price of admission (as are tracks like “Rock Bottom (Pop. 1)” and “Papa Was a Steel-Headed Man”). And the latter’s discography is one of music’s great unplumbed treasures.
As a pretty ignorant appreciator of country music, I must say this post is a treasure. Thanks!
What about Kathleen Edwards? I don’t see it as country per se but much of country isn’t country. Include her in. It’s honest music which is saying a lot.
Kathleen Edwards and Robert Earl Keen (mentioned in an earlier reply) were on the short list, but I decided to trim this list down from what was an unwieldy group of twenty or so bands. I figured ten bands would make a good introduction to those unfamiliar with the genre, without being overwhelming.
Liked Malo. Shiles’ dialect was a bit hard to understand. Also the Panama City license plate wasn’t a good value-add. The rest seemed very similar. Perhaps more replays would make a difference. Good post.
A bit different:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTZaO4BMfPc
Can’t go wrong with Delbert’s music. Thanks for posting the link!
I’d also add Pat Green & Tift Merritt.
I think the best country songs display stoic humor e.g. “All my Excess live in Texas (so I hang my hat in Tennessee).
I am disappointed that my ditty ” I Pledge my by-passed Heart to thee” went nowwhere.the classic “Rumania Rumania” is a country song bult not a country and western song.
Yes, City, I’ve sung that song many times. But I recall it is “Romania Romania Romania,” not merely “Romania Romania.” As to your number, “I Pledge,” is it available on youtube yet?
City, you might also like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVUGCdTVpug
Twang is twang, and there’s no “musical” defense for this unsophisticated junk.
The best argument in support of my opinion, is a clever song which can be heard here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b3coO_6MwY
Prepare yourself.. It’s a hoot!
fs
“You ain’t the best, but you’re the best that I can do…”
-Charlie Robison
No one does romance like a good country writer. Long live real (non-Nashville) country music!!!
Amanda Shires sounds interesting but in the wise words of Dee Snider, “If this is your best, your best won’t do.” The male vocalists, for the most part, have the nasal twang of Neil Young and Bob Dylan, both of whom may be great song writers but grate on my ears. Why do country singers think they have to sound like that? When I listen to country, I listen to Johnny Cash, Waylon, etc, who have distinctive voices and others who don’t sing so nasally. The Willie Nelson/Randy Travis voices make me hit the mute immediately.
“music with its lyrical finger on the pulse of life in America”
Trace Adkins’ “I’m Tryin’”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4uJ0OvG-7Y
It is unfortunate that folk-style country music is being hijacked by hipster Occutards who latch on to things like parasites in a desperate attempt to legitimize their existence.
jdgjtr:
RE Waylon: Was it singing through my nose that got me busted by the man?
Don’t you think this outlaw stuff’s done got out of hand?