it's a natural thing...discovering different musical forms as you mature...it gives you a whole new world to explore...thank god any youthful limits i may have had have been blown away...i am now free to embrace the musical past...and anticipate what is yet to come.

Posted by: d. burr at August 15, 2005 08:56 PM

alt.country is the nu nu-metal

Posted by: Brian G at August 15, 2005 09:07 PM

(and thanks for the recomendation.. i'll check them out)

Posted by: Brian G at August 15, 2005 09:08 PM

I also highly recommend the Siderunners: http://www.siderunners.com/

They are pretty alt.country..I got turned on to them in a podcast from the Evil Genius chronicles last year...awesome music.

Listen to them via iTunes here: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=19308555

Posted by: glb at August 15, 2005 09:14 PM

Wil,
Good jams are good jams. Don't worry about labels

FG

Posted by: FABIAN at August 15, 2005 09:46 PM

Wil, you crack me up!!! :)

Posted by: LemonTD at August 15, 2005 09:51 PM

He would have hated your man purse, too, sweetie. WTF did he know?

* runs *

Posted by: Cookie at August 15, 2005 09:53 PM

Must be an old age thing... ;)
Just kiddn, Wilster. :D

Posted by: Patty at August 15, 2005 11:05 PM

alt country???????

Have you and Otis been discussing music in between poker hands?

Posted by: CJ at August 15, 2005 11:16 PM

I had no idea you were into alt.country -- before I moved into the world of Hollywood, I was part of that whole scene; my family's still working musicians in the genre. I even wrote an article for /No Depression/ once.

Good taste, man. Now we've got to move you up to Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Kasey Chambers...

Posted by: Banfennid at August 15, 2005 11:51 PM

Hush CJ. Everyone knows all the best poker players are into alt.country. ;)

I hear ya Wil...I feel the same way sometimes. My musical tastes tend to change quite a bit over time. I listen to stuff now that I used to really like and wonder what I was thinking...

Thanks for the recommendation; going to have to check them out.

Posted by: NotAPokerBlog at August 16, 2005 12:26 AM

My God...10 years later and I still can't get "Drown" out of my head. Now I gotta rummage through my stacks for it before I go nuts. Thanks, Wil.

Posted by: dgbellak at August 16, 2005 02:16 AM

If you are digging on alt.country you should check out The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash. Pretty good stuff.

Posted by: AxsDeny at August 16, 2005 03:46 AM

lol

Posted by: Kelsimarie at August 16, 2005 04:39 AM

Wil,

I'm pretty clueless about alt.country, but if you like Son Volt, you should try My Morning Jacket. Kind of a similar sound, but not too similar. More like a cross between Son Volt and Mazzy Star.

Posted by: Tim at August 16, 2005 06:16 AM

My music tastes haven't changed since I was 18, and I'm about the same age as you Wil.

I'm a bit more open to new stuff than I was, and I like a lot of older stuff that I never used to like when I was younger, but I still yearn for the old days of music sometimes.

I think my 18 year old self would embrace me and invite me out to pick up women at a bar/club!

Posted by: Gabby at August 16, 2005 06:53 AM

My music tastes haven't changed since I was 18, and I'm about the same age as you Wil.

I'm a bit more open to new stuff than I was, and I like a lot of older stuff that I never used to like when I was younger, but I still yearn for the old days of music sometimes.

I think my 18 year old self would embrace me and invite me out to pick up women at a bar/club!

Posted by: Gabby at August 16, 2005 06:53 AM

Don't you hate it when your computer freezes and you end up posting something twice because you think it didn't register!

Moron!

Posted by: Gabby at August 16, 2005 06:54 AM

I think that the 18 year old versions of most of us have been part of why alt.country or Americana or whatever you want to call it has become sort of an underground sensation rather than obvious popularity. I think we're all kind of trying to figure out how to "come out" as a fan of anything that might have a country twang in it anywhere. As much as we'd all like to believe we're rugged individualists who dance to the beat of our own drummers, we all, on some level, still wait to see some indication that something is popular before jumping onto the bandwagon.

Posted by: LetterJ at August 16, 2005 07:26 AM

I'd say it's part of growing up, Wil. Your ears get older too, seeking out new sounds.

Posted by: kancerman at August 16, 2005 09:57 AM

It's funny, I started listening to Wilco based on a review of YHF here. I recently picked up used copies of A Ghost is Born and AM. Ghost is still growing on me, AM was full on favorite the first time I listened to it. I had to have more so I did some research and picked up Uncle Tupelo's No Depression and Son Volt's Trace last Friday.

Much listening happiness this weekend.

Posted by: Matt Brier at August 16, 2005 10:30 AM

Allison Krause and Union Station have some good songs out as well. She's heavy in bluegrass influence, but the lyrics and her voice are moving.

Posted by: Kim the fangirl at August 16, 2005 11:08 AM

I agree with Banfennid. Kasey Chambers is the bomb-diggity! Wil, Wilco is great. . . Uncle Tupelo is classic . . . Jeff Buckley rocks, also Ryan Adams old band, Whiskeytown, now those guys are just solid all around! Also, check out Shelter Belt www.beltcave.com They are a local band out of Nebraska (I was the drummer in the band's first incarnation about 8 years ago). Their sound has grown and it is ecclectic, but some of their stuff if right down this alley.

Posted by: noffkido at August 16, 2005 11:27 AM

Country Music is Life.

As in Stories, not as punishment for a crime.

Posted by: Proto at August 16, 2005 11:58 AM

I shall materialize into such so that when you next see me I will be unrecognizeable as something completely unlike myself and more like a...Grapefruit.

Posted by: J.M. Lankenau at August 16, 2005 12:56 PM

Have you listened to Gillian Welch? You might like her too.

Posted by: Miss Bliss at August 16, 2005 02:03 PM

ok so this has nothing to do with anything in this post BUT...you look AWESOME with pink hair!! but you got to stop dying man! it sucks when ur characters die! ok thats all. just wanted to let you know.
-Cara

Posted by: Cara at August 16, 2005 04:02 PM

Ow. I am pained that you didn't have 'Trace'... one of my all time favorites. I listened to that about a billion times... still listening. 'May the wind take your troubles away...'

Once I decided it was okay to like the country, I got hooked on The Derailers. They do some great Honky Tonk, which has the benefit of being danceable. ;-) Saw them at Duffy's in Nebraska... yes, I admit it.

Posted by: AO at August 16, 2005 05:19 PM

What a great band. A friend of mine drug me to an Uncle Tupelo concert ages ago, after they broke up I followed Sun Volt for a bit even saw them once or twice. Great album. I may have to go grab it and play it, its been a while.
I've always been a fan of many different music styles. If you haven't listened to them, give the Reverend Horton Heat a spin. Psychobilly at its best. :)

Posted by: Minman at August 16, 2005 07:31 PM

I second the Gillian Welch recommendation, as she's one of my top-three favorites. I'm as big an Alt-Country geek as you're likely to find, though I lean toward the acoustic side of things.

And if you like Gillian Welch, or in general soulful music with a country flavor, check out Patty Griffin's debut CD, Living With Ghosts. It's absurdly good.

Also: Townes Van Zandt.
Also: Ryan Adams, _Heartbreaker_.
Also: Whiskeytown.

So what's with all the Nebraska people on here? That seems kind of strange. I'm from Lincoln, myself.

Posted by: Gunter at August 16, 2005 08:05 PM

Wil

Funny you should mention that. I just picked up the newly released Austin City Limits Concert of Son Volt and can't stop listening/watching to it. Just AMAZING! Additionaly a great public radio station here in NYC that plays a great deal of Alt Country during the day especially is WFUV and it streams online as well. www.wfuv.org. Check it out, you won't regret it.

Posted by: MG at August 16, 2005 09:45 PM

- On the country side, Caitlin Cary [formerly of Whiskeytown] just put out an incredible album of duets with Thad Cockrell [for me... Ryan Adams' closest competitor]. The album is called Begonias, and breaks my heart every time I hear it.
Also: only 5 years ago I was one of those people who says 'I listen to everything but rap and country" then I found Neko Case, and now I buy the rock, rap, and country music for a record chain... funny the way things work out. This comic hangs on my office door and scares away the snobs...

Posted by: rhiannon at August 17, 2005 12:06 AM

I love reading your alt.country self-discovery. I did the exact same thing five years ago after hearing Ryan Adams' "Heartbreaker" for the first time: picked up Whiskeytown, Son Volt, the Jayhawks, every Wilco I didn't have... it's fun, isn't it? I highly recommend adding Califone to your collection. It's a little weirder than most of the other stuff I (and others) have mentioned, but it's good weird.

Posted by: kelseyfrost at August 17, 2005 07:11 AM

these are all fine artists/bands people have been mentioning, but if we're making recommendations, then i've got to throw my two cents in and say the geraldine fibbers. some of their songs are rock-leanin' rather than country-leaning'--regardless, they are damn good. i highly, highly recommend their album "what part of get thee gone don't you understand?"



i'm embarrassed to say that i sang along to "drown" for months before i realized the actual lyrics are "what goes wrong you're CAUSING IT," not "you're CAR'S IN IT."

Posted by: gnomie at August 17, 2005 10:33 AM

You may also enjoy Robbie Fulks, author of the seminal ode to Nashville, Fark This Town.

http://robbiefulks.com/discography/guitartab.html?id=00025

Posted by: h2 at August 17, 2005 10:59 AM

heh I was blogging about musical taste the other day.. and the fact that I was once a music snob

now I listen to talk radio so my ears don't explode daily

Posted by: Jabbertrack at August 17, 2005 01:55 PM

Here's another alt.country rising star for you to check out- Paul Thorn (http://www.paulthorn.com/) He has a touch of everything- blues, gospel, country, the occasional white trash tinged lyrics, and a few songs that could break your heart. A good place to start is his newest album "Are You With Me?", but for the full effect of his tremedous live show, check out "Live at Short Street". There are loads of sound clips on his website, I'd bet the bank you'll love it.

Posted by: Sherrie at August 17, 2005 02:40 PM

Oh Em Gee!
Dude.. your getting old if you have given in to country! o.O

Say it ain't so! oh noes....

Posted by: Lanitta at August 17, 2005 07:29 PM

I think if the 1990 me met me now I'd kick myslef in the nuts too for all manner of crappy mistakes!

Great website, I am just starting to read "Just a Geek" too.

Ted.

Posted by: Ted at August 17, 2005 08:40 PM

So you're up late, cruising the comments section, cause hey what's the point of putting it here right? I'm not normally a commentor but my wife is out of town and I'm a little bored. So you found trace and think you've gone alt-country. Me too... that way I could feel cool without trying to understand all the sub genres of "emo." I bought Trace a year ago on my way up to see my mom who lives in Port Townsend north of Seattle, dark cold islands facing out into an unforgiving ocean. I listened to it about 100 times... that's me, nothing in moderation.

Anyway, I see the usual cast of recommendations here (Wiskeytown, Jeff Buckley, Gillian Welch... what guys no Bright Eyes? Conor Orberst is the new Ryan Adams... didn't that memo get out?) along with a little pimpin' which is all good right? Fight the good fight. So here is a little something for you out of the ordinary.

"Neutral Milk Hotel" has only one real album "in the aeroplane over the sea." Pitchfork ranked it the forth best album of the 90's. It is all the vision of Jeff Mangum, a guy who after this album gave it all up to make Bulgarian folk music. He doesn't have the best voice and his arrangements aren't going to freak you out with their complexity, but I suspect if you listen to him at the right time it will haunt you. To make the point we'll start with some lyrics from track 8, "Oh comely".

"Oh comely/
I will be with you when you lose your breath/
Chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left/
With some pretty bright and bubbly terrible scene/
That was doing her thing on your chest/
But oh comely /
It isn't as pretty as you'd like to guess/
In your memory you're drunk on your automy/
It doesn't mean anything at all/
Oh comely/
All of your friends are letting you blow/
Bristling and ugly/
Bursting with fruits falling out from the holes/
Of some pretty bright and bubbly friend /
You could need to say comforting things in your ear/
But oh comely /
There isn't such one friend that you could find here/
Standing next to me/
He's only my enemy /
I'll crush him with everything I own/
Say what you want to say/
Hang for your hollow ways/
Moving your mouth to pull out all your miracles aimed for me"

To really understand you have to listen to what he does with it so I posted an mp3 at http://www.coffeedog.com/temp/08 Oh Comely.mp3.

And if you are still curious you can read this Pitchfork interview http://pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/n/neutral-milk-hotel-02/. It will make you feel like "where have I been" as all good reviews of bands you've not listened to do.

Well, that should kill some time (it certainly did for me writing it). But if you like that and really want to see if we are on the same wave-length check out a writer named Breece D'J Pancake. Wrote one book of short stories circa 1979 then took himself out of the picture at the age of 26 with a shotgun.

Goodnight Wil's online persona.

Erik

Posted by: coffeedog at August 17, 2005 10:01 PM

Neutral Milk Hotel.. I agree. One of my favourite albums.
Also the Decemberists.. took the NMH sound and made it a little more friendly.

Posted by: Akolade at August 18, 2005 07:52 AM

I just recently got into country music myself and I'm a even bit younger than you, Wil.

Maybe it's an age thing... I suspect it has something to do with having a family of your own and becoming more independant from your peers. Back when I was 18, I would have never even given country a chance.

Oh, and Son Volt also has a new album out, titled "Okemah And The Melody Of Riot". It's quite good, albeit a bit different from "Trace".

Posted by: JJ at August 18, 2005 12:09 PM

I just recently got into country music myself and I'm a even bit younger than you, Wil.

Maybe it's an age thing... I suspect it has something to do with having a family of your own and becoming more independant from your peers. Back when I was 18, I would have never even given country a chance.

Oh, and Son Volt also has a new album out, titled "Okemah And The Melody Of Riot". It's quite good, albeit a bit different from "Trace".

Posted by: JJ at August 18, 2005 12:10 PM

You have to listen to Hayseed Dixie. its not your normal country music. Its a tongue in cheek glimpse at rock songs done up country style. Their website is: http://www.texasmusiccds.com/Hayseed_Dixie.htm. Also, if you order from the site directly the band gets more money than if you bought it from a store. Also, a interview with the founding member can be read here:
http://www.guitar.com/cda/ColumnCorner/article_display.aspx?CodaID=794949.

I am not affiliated with the band.

Posted by: Jim at August 18, 2005 01:54 PM

"I think I'd kick me in the nuts."

Geez, it's not like you're an old lady in a $50 iBook riot.

Posted by: Topher at August 19, 2005 08:04 AM

Sheesh, your 18 year old self was mean!! If he kicked you in the nuts I say b*tch slap him and tell him not to be so close-minded.

punk kids... *lol*

Posted by: anj at August 19, 2005 11:44 AM

[Heads to the freezer with ziplock to make ice bag]
"Hey Wil, Ya' want ONE, TWO, or a WHOLE LOTTA Lumps?" *oooch!*

Posted by: DustyTymes at August 19, 2005 01:23 PM

I still can't completely believe that I listen to Lyle Lovett now.

Posted by: Mark at August 20, 2005 01:10 AM

Hey Wil

From the looks of this post, sounds like you're a lot more "seasoned" than you were when you were 18. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Adam

Posted by: BullwinkleAU at August 20, 2005 02:48 AM

Hey Wil, I saw this Get Fuzzy strip and immediately thought of your blog.

http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/archive/getfuzzy-20050820.html

Posted by: jhjanuary at August 20, 2005 03:53 AM

If you are into alt country you have to listen to Slim Cessnas Auto Club. They are unlike anything you have ever heard. Country for the warped nerds out there. Brilliant....and they put on an amazing live show!!!

Posted by: birdorama at August 21, 2005 07:20 PM

The 1990 me actually listened to Tupelo, too.
I totally understand the panic that hits when you realize you like country music in any form. I'm from their hometown, so I suppressed that realization so I could support the local boys.
Give Bottle Rockets a listen. They have been around since Tupelo's heyday, and are lead by Brian Henneman, who played with/was a roadie for Uncle Tupelo. You'll see him credited on the albums.
As far as I'm concerned Jay Farrar and Brian Henneman are genius. Sometimes you have to alter your definition of cool to enjoy the work of geniuses. Love the twang, embrace it.

Posted by: summercotton at August 23, 2005 02:32 PM

Wow, I am in the same boat, I swore that there was absolutely NO way that I would ever like country in any form but I too discovered alt-country when a friend introduced me to Blue Rodeo, CD's like Casino, Five Days in July and their newest, Are You Ready? I was hooked. I own and enjoy albums by Wilco, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt and was set on fire when I saw your post. Uncle Tupelo's CD named March 16-20, 1992 is an absolutely incredible piece of work.

Besides the albums I already mentioned I highly recommend that you consider giving Sackcloth 'n Ashes by Sixteen Horsepower a listen, it will not disappoint. I could go on but it's probably best that I stop now.

Keep up the great work Wil! I really enjoy your site.

Posted by: Roark Holz at August 23, 2005 09:12 PM