Jay Farrar's cool.

Kind of hard to listen to him anymore after I saw Richard Buckner play, though.

Jay ripped his sh*t, with a healthy dose of Neil Young to even it up...

whidbey: Jay Farrar's cool.

Kind of hard to listen to him anymore after I saw Richard Buckner play, though.

Jay ripped his sh*t, with a healthy dose of Neil Young to even it up...

You're gonna have a bad headache when you sober up.

Incidentally, it seems to me that every single band that has any connection to Uncle Tupelo is tot'ly awesum.

Son Volt
Wilco
The Bottle Rockets
The Gourds

With country influenced alt-rock?

filth: The Bottle Rockets

Love the Bottle Rockets...:)

BobtheFascist: With country influenced alt-rock?

Bands like Son Volt, The Old 97s, etc. are the heirs to country music as it used to be. They're showing that country music doesn't have to sound like over-produced redneck pop-rock.

i play in a (sort of) alt-country band called slimfit. the mixes up there are not even close to final, so forgive the quality. son volt and uncle tupelo are big influences for us, so if you're into them and can get past the rough edges, you might dig some of this. i don't mean to say in any way that we're comparable, just thought i'd share.

FYI, i think my favorite of the ones up there is "which way you gonna go."

filth: Incidentally, it seems to me that every single band that has any connection to Uncle Tupelo is tot'ly awesum.

Son Volt
Wilco
The Bottle Rockets
The Gourds

THIS

blah.
I prefer VnV Nation.

Perhaps there's musical talent and artistry here to be appreciated, and perhaps even more that if I took the time to focus and open my mind to the collective genius of this band, I would grow to love it.

But until that happens, which it won't - Meh.

Two other country guys who don't suck:

Hayes Carll (new window)
Ryan Bingham (new window)

Killrthm: BobtheFascist: With country influenced alt-rock?

Bands like Son Volt, The Old 97s, etc. are the heirs to country music as it used to be. They're showing that country music doesn't have to sound like over-produced redneck pop-rock.

It doesn't even sound like country.

I'm getting Neil Young "Rust Never Sleeps" guitar,
and 90's whiny-alt-rock vocals.

Sweet. Thanks, Subby.

whidbey: Jay Farrar's cool.

Kind of hard to listen to him anymore after I saw Richard Buckner play, though.

Jay ripped his sh*t, with a healthy dose of Neil Young to even it up...

Dude I know, it's almost as bad as the way Roy Orbison ripped off Chris Isaac.

filth: Incidentally, it seems to me that every single band that has any connection to Uncle Tupelo is tot'ly awesum.

Son Volt
Wilco
The Bottle Rockets
The Gourds
***********
What's the UT connection to Bottle Rockets and the Gourds?

BTW, there are about 1.5 Gourds tunes I can figure out what the lyrics mean.

/41 live Gourds shows (new window)
//2 More Gourds (new window)

Alt-country, ey? (new window)

I was at this taping. Good clean fun. Made it into a Wilco taping too -- had a friend who was an associate producer back then and occasionally she could get me in. Always free beer at the tapings -- they wanted a happy audience. Worked for me...

Son Volt is OK, I saw them open for the Drive By Truckers a year or two ago.

If you really want to check out the best southern rock/country outfit today you must give the DBTs a try. Here's a great acoustic set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHnbiiPoMSU

They're playing tomorrow night at Avalon in Los Angeles.

LET THERE BE ROCK!!!

ajl_mo:

What's the UT connection to Bottle Rockets and the Gourds?


Don't know about the Bottle Rockets, but Max Johnston of the Gourds played on the last UT disc (Anodyne), and then was in the original Wilco line-up.

Jay Farrar's cool, but Jeff Tweedy can burn holes in his shoes just by looking at them.

/ that's what ryan adams said
// he was being facetious
/// going to see wilco 3/24 house seats!

jdwiggy: Son Volt is OK, I saw them open for the Drive By Truckers a year or two ago.

Really? DBT rocks, but Son Volt opens for them?

Man if I was Farrar I'd be drinking whiskey like George Jones over my career choices.

jdwiggy: If you really want to check out the best southern rock/country outfit today you must give the DBTs a try.

Mostly 'this', but I'm having trouble with the 'today' in that sentence. Just can't seem to get into Brighter Than Creation's Dark. Perhaps a few more listens, but to me it sounds like Jason Isbell is sorely missed.

/still better than 98% of crap out there, though

This is country???

Sounds a lot more like a Wallflowers cover band, or a song that John Mellencamp's bastard stepchild wrote. Way too 90s, sounds nothing like country.

/Hank Sr. turns in his grave to hear this categorized as country
//Heeeeeeeeey, good lookin'
///Ha-whaaaaaaaaat cha got cookin'?

***forgot to mention that I actually liked the song a lot, just doesn't sound like country to me.

gambit60:

***forgot to mention that I actually liked the song a lot, just doesn't sound like country to me.


Yeah, that's one of their less "country" songs, but they do actually have some pretty good ones.

The Dynamite Monkey:
I know that Son Volt opened for the DBTs when I saw the HOB show in LA. But now that you mention it I think I remember hearing that Son Volt would headline when they played in San Fran. Maybe they traded off on that tour. Either way I personally think the DBTs are the superior band.

DrBenway: ajl_mo:

What's the UT connection to Bottle Rockets and the Gourds?


Don't know about the Bottle Rockets, but Max Johnston of the Gourds played on the last UT disc (Anodyne), and then was in the original Wilco line-up.

The leader of the Bottle Rockets, Brian Henneman, was Uncle Tupleo's roadie and played on March 16-20, 1992. He also played on Wilco's AM and both Jeff Tweedy & Jay Farrar appear in the Bottle Rocket's self titled debut.

Dorf11

The DBTs made great music pre-Jason and I like the new CD as well. But agreed, he was/is awesome and will be missed.

Keep listening to the new CD. Its 19 songs and granted there are a few that I FF (Shonna's tunes) but Cooley comes up huge and it is a quality album.

The Bottle Rockets connection to UT is pretty big. Aside from what is mentioned above, when Uncle Tupelo started getting really popular on the local scene, they started playing some gigs billed as "Coffee Creek" Brian Henneman was in the band when they played those shows. Henneman sang lead on a lot of the songs.
Coffee Creek mainly played country covers.
WILCO, UT and Bottle Rockets loved playing Doug Sahm covers.

gambit60: This is country???

Sounds a lot more like a Wallflowers cover band, or a song that John Mellencamp's bastard stepchild wrote. Way too 90s, sounds nothing like country.

/Hank Sr. turns in his grave to hear this categorized as country
//Heeeeeeeeey, good lookin'
///Ha-whaaaaaaaaat cha got cookin'?

Wanted to say precisely this. The only thing I hear that sounds like the old stuff is people on YouTube warbling out covers of Jambalaya or Heartaches By The Numbers.

meatpaws: i play in a (sort of) alt-country band called slimfit. the mixes up there are not even close to final, so forgive the quality. son volt and uncle tupelo are big influences for us, so if you're into them and can get past the rough edges, you might dig some of this. i don't mean to say in any way that we're comparable, just thought i'd share.

FYI, i think my favorite of the ones up there is "which way you gonna go."

Good stuff Meatpaws. Can't believe that you guys are from Lancaster, I thought I knew of most of the local bands. Might have to check out your show at Quips in a couple weeks.

Not their most country song, but way more country than the steaming pile of fail in the form of Trace Adkins a few links down. Some of their stuff is almost classic country, some of it rocks quite a bit harder.

God>Neil Young>Jay Farrar

luckybastard: gambit60: This is country???

Sounds a lot more like a Wallflowers cover band, or a song that John Mellencamp's bastard stepchild wrote. Way too 90s, sounds nothing like country.

/Hank Sr. turns in his grave to hear this categorized as country
//Heeeeeeeeey, good lookin'
///Ha-whaaaaaaaaat cha got cookin'?

Wanted to say precisely this. The only thing I hear that sounds like the old stuff is people on YouTube warbling out covers of Jambalaya or Heartaches By The Numbers.

You have a really narrow definition of "country." Incidentally, some other more country sounding acts that don't suck (other than the fine ones that have already been plugged:

Charlie Robison
2 Tons of Steel
Junior Brown
Supersuckers
The Great Divide

The recent "whirlwind of Country suck" has had little to do with "Country" and a lot to do with "Pop". You can blame Buck Owens and the Countrypolitan movement for that. Not that all Countrypolitan is bad... it just started the ball rolling that ended up with us having Vince Gill and his ilk in our face and up our @ss.

The real practitioners of Country, and those with a love of Country music, have never gone away. Trace by Son Volt is 13 years old now, and a great album. Traditional Country fans may hear a lot of "Rock" in the sound, but it's heart and soul are in the right place.

If you want to check out some musicians that are doing the Country thing right these days, here's some good starting spots (all links open new windows)...
Hank III - Hank Sr.'s grandson
Splitlip Rayfield
Link
The Handsome Family
Corb Lund

Hopefully I don't even have to bother pointing you in the direction of Neko Case (or Lucinda Williams, for that matter). If you're not already there, you should be.

Finally, if you are a real dyed in the wool Old Time Country fan who doesn't hold much truck with these young whippersnappers who come along thinking they know what "Country" is... all I can say is that, if you haven't done so already, go out and get yourself a a copy of Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose album, and once you have fully experienced it's excellence, you should consider that a lot of the credit goes to Jack White from The White Stripes.

Damn... that 3rd link goes to Alejandro Escovedo's web site.

You may also want to check out The Jayhawks before Marc Olsen left the group and The Golden Smog (includes members of Wilco, The Jayhawks, and *gasp* Soul Asylum). All good stuff.

Boris S. Wort:

Damn... that 3rd link goes to Alejandro Escovedo's web site.


Lots of good stuff out of Austin in the retro and/or hard-country vein, hard to go wrong with much of it, along with a number of folks working more in the roots rock direction. You can pretty much open up a Broken Spoke calendar (for instance), close your eyes and point your finger most months. One of the editors of No Depression is from Austin, too; he was real helpful when I first moved there.

Guitar riff sounds straight out of a Dwight Yoakum song. Can't think ot the song.

filth: You have a really narrow definition of "country."


Those artists are fine artists, but I guess you can't recapture lightning. They're using templates made 40+ years ago. Unfair to compare them? Sure, but what can I say?

I was in Iowa City during the late 80's and this sounds like pretty much every 60's-ish-influenced-jangle-pop (supposedly REM-influenced) band from the Midwest of the era.

I tend to think this sound is more country than popular modern "country" which is nothing more than recycled/slightly tweaked corporate crap, i.e. modern pop with a twangy guitar and a singer blatantly using an accent.

I would like to add another band to our little mix of Country music that doesn't suck. This band definitely embraces fiddle and steel guitar more than the others. Enjoy...

Link (new window)

Real country music: KHYI 95.3 The Range

Digitus Impudicus: Real country music: KHYI 95.3 The Range

No argument here, just wish they had a stronger signal.

mother truckers
drunk stuntmen
splitlip rayfield (said, but worth rementioning)

dig it.

Zeppelinster: Can't believe that you guys are from Lancaster, I thought I knew of most of the local bands. Might have to check out your show at Quips in a couple weeks.

We've been around for going on four years, I guess. Play mostly the Chameleon, Quips and the Dispensing Company here in town. Hope you can make it out in a couple of weeks.

RockIsDead: Guitar riff sounds straight out of a Dwight Yoakum song. Can't think ot the song.

Well, I wish you hadn't said that because now I will spend all day tryin to figure it out. I listened but didn't hear it, I definitely heard the Yoakam/Pete Anderson influence though.

Just came in to say that less than two weeks ago Dave Boquist (original Son Volt multi-instrumentalist) played an entire set with my band (at the legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis).

We opened for Buffalo Tom, and Dave played fiddle on 8 of our songs, and electric guitar on one. It was quite an experience (and honor) to have one of you favorite musicians play on songs you've written.

www.myspace.com/westernfifth

He'll be on the new record coming out this summer as well

Do NOT Like...

Mumbles and doesn't sound country at all... Essentially just a bunch of noise.

Holy Fark! I didn't like the video that much, but man DBT is awesome! Thanks much fark for turning me onto these guys. "Where the Devil don't stay" is freaking amazing