Alt Country!

There are many shades of country music and the sub-genre known as alt-country is still the new kid on the block. Most alt-country founders are not much older than me and grew up listening to both punk and country music. They don’t see much difference between Johnny Rotten and Johnny Cash but because of background and geography these alt-country artists sound much more country than punk. For me, punk and alt-country are natural allies in that both musical genres aim to keep things real and simple only to discover reality is anything but simple- and maybe Bob Dylan and Paul Westerberg were onto something. I don’t have any favorite alt-country albums- none have ever been able to hold my attention from start to finish- but here are some of my favorite alt-country songs. Enjoy! 

The Bottle Rockets

01. The Bottle Rockets “1000 Dollar Car” (1995)

02. Whiskeytown feat. Alejandro Escovedo – “Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight” (1997)

03. Drive-By Truckers – “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac” (2004)

04. Uncle Tupelo – “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (1990)

05. The Handsome Family – “So Much Wine” (2000)

06. Son Volt – “Windfall” (1995)

07. Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band – “Pilgrim” (1999)

08. The Avett Brothers – “Go to Sleep” (2007)

09. The Bottle Rockets – “Indianapolis” (1997)

10. Old 97’s – “Big Brown Eyes” (1997)

Old 97's

Listen to the playlist on Spotify...