Where did it all begin?

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Permalink Reply by Roy Anderson on July 18, 2010 at 12:40am

That tree is rich and branches off in many directions, but by addressing the term "Alt-Country", I first heard it in the early '90's-- tagged for Uncle Tupelo, Old 97's, and Whiskeytown. They all come from punk rock, so I suspect that Jason and The Scorchers and X/Knitters grabbed 'em by their mid-western boots and brought them to Dylan/Parsons and so on. Remember cow-punk? The Long Ryders, Rank and File, The Dils, Dash Rip Rock-- all get credit too. The Band, The Dead, CCR.... it's a twisted/knotty tree.

Permalink Reply by Jon Bard on July 18, 2010 at 11:43am

Yeah, like determining ground zero of any genre, it's just gets tougher and tougher to pin down as you go back in time. Johnny Cash is a clear influence, so's old-time country like George Jones and Marty Robbins. then you've got rockabilly and....

well, it can go way back until you find yourself in Appalachia during the Civil War listening to some guy blow into a jug :)

Permalink Reply by MrQwerty on July 19, 2010 at 11:56am

Roy & John - thanks for the heads up. Alt-Country although a term invented sometime in the 90's, you're right, I've always seen it as a convenient hook to hang the hat of all the other stuff that isn't country mainstream ie Grand Ol' Opry, beehives, dead dogs, rigid conservatism, undying sincerity, plus that cloying sentimentality and downright sappiness - you know what I'm talking about? Having said that, some of the stuff I regard as alternative comes dangerously close to embracing many of the features of MOR country, but with a slight divergence to a greater or lesser extent.

Perhaps a better name for the group would have been 'Country-Rock' as it's the marriage of British Beat and American Country & Western which I believe began the music we all come to worship here in RnR Tribe-land. Besides the Fabs themselves and their nods to the Everlys and Sun, I always think it's The Byrds, Gram Parsons and most overlooked of all: Mike Nesmith (Sweet Young Thing & Papa Gene's Blues from 1966, anyone?) that I believe kick starts the Country-Rock trajectory.

Being a non American, I'm happy to acknowledge that Country Rock is an organic home grown phenomena, but the Beatles aside it wasn't long before we started serving it right back to ya in the shape of great innovators like Ian Matthews, Brinsley Schwarz and the whole 'Down Home' (mostly from Wales) movement nurtured by Liberty/UA in the late 69 early 1970. Also not being American hasn't stopped fabulous exponents like Australians Flying Circus, Finland's excellent Bens Diapers, not to mention a whole host of Canadians spearheaded by the Band, Neil Young (of course), Great Speckled Bird and Blue Rodeo to name but a handful.

Then there's Rockabilly and Tex-Mex which I've neatly sidestepped, plus a brilliant Mexican band I discovered about 2 years ago from around 1970 whose name has slipped my mind - they sound a little like Creedence without sounding merely derivative - if you know who I'm talking about then please do give me a nudge?

In the end I have to admit yes, it is a twisted/knotty tree indeed - who started this crazy discourse anyway?

Permalink Reply by Roy Anderson on July 19, 2010 at 7:07pm

I was not aware of Mike Nesmith's contirbution. I do know he's a very interesting man-- a biography I would definitely read.

Permalink Reply by MrQwerty on July 29, 2010 at 4:30pm

Indeed it would, Roy - I can't ever see it being an autobiography from the often retiring Mr Nes.

Roy Anderson said:

I was not aware of Mike Nesmith's contirbution. I do know he's a very interesting man-- a biography I would definitely read.