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Alternative country drew on traditional American country music, the music of working people, preserved and celebrated by practitioners such as Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams, and the Carter Family, often cited as major influences.
Jun 9, 2021 · Alternative country or alt-country, a subgenre of country music, has found resonance with fans of alternative and indie rock.
- Rank and File – “Amanda Ruth” (1982) One of the first bands to bear the descriptor “cowpunk,” Rank and File also had pedigrees in actual punk. Brothers Chip and Tony Kinman were in The Dils, a California band that had tight, Everly-like harmonies which were unusual in their genre.
- Meat Puppets – “Plateau” (1984) The resident cowpunks on the SST roster in the 1980s, Arizona’s Meat Puppet’s nonetheless translated their country and western influences through a hardcore filter on their debut album.
- Lone Justice – “Ways to Be Wicked” (1985) Maria McKee had a commanding stage presence, a ferocious energy, and a voice that bore a resemblance to one of her earliest supporters, Dolly Parton.
- Mekons – “Hard to Be Human Again” (1985) On paper it might not seem likely that a post-punk group from the same Leeds scene as Gang of Four and Au Pairs would end up recording one of the first great alt-country records.
Mar 15, 2023 · Mekons guitarist John Langford eventually started The Waco Brothers, a group that fully embraced the alt-country sound. Emmylou Harris made her name in music as a gifted folk singer-songwriter, though her 1995 album Wrecking Ball is seen as one of alt-country’s finest.
Jan 25, 2020 · Alt-country traces its roots even further than when it was coined as a movement (which will be addressed later), but for all intents and purposes, the movement “started” with Uncle Tupelo, a band made of high-school buddies from Illinois.
- Uncle Tupelo. Uncle Tupelo was an Illinois music group that was active between 1987 and 1994. The trio of Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn recorded four studio albums during that time frame.
- Lucinda Williams. Three-time Grammy winner Lucinda Williams has said that she never felt part of the "straighter country music industry of Nashville." Her 1979 debut album featured a more traditional country style and received little interest from radio stations.
- Cowboy Junkies. Canadian alternative country band Cowboy Junkies formed in Toronto in 1985 and features siblings Michael Timmins, Peter Timmins, vocalist Margo Timmins, as well as bassist Alan Anton.
- Steve Earle. Singer-songwriter-producer-author Steve Earle released his first EP in 1982. The "Copperhead Road" and "Guitar Town" singer has won three Grammy awards and has released 21 studio albums to date, including 2021's J.T.
In 1995, Peter Blackstock and Grant Alden began publishing No Depression: The Alternative Country (Whatever That Is) Bi-Monthly, named for an Uncle Tupelo cover of a Carter Family original, which serves as the ex-officio magazine of alt.country.
