It's Recommended
(This page is a work in progress)
Everyone has a favorite CD or two.
We here at SlackerCountry.com have more than a few.
Here is an inexhaustive yet not all-inclusive list.
We probably left off the one you feel most passionately
about. Why don't you
email us and tell us who and why they should be on
this list?
Here goes:
Drive-By Truckers
It's tough to choose a favorite DBT album. "Decoration Day" might be my favorite, but you know what the very best Drive-By Truckers’ album is? The next one. The one coming out January 22, 2008, in this case -
"Brighter Than Creation’s Dark." Their 2006, "A Blessing and A Curse" was powerful. With three great songwriters and singers, there were songs on that album to please all the fans. They can be a bit dark. I love that. Jason Isbell has gone on to form
The 400 Unit and is doing very well, thank you, but I don’t think the new DBT album is going to go lacking. The news on the streets is that Patterson Hood has written
nine songs and Mike Cooley has contributed seven. We’re going to get a treat, too, with
three new songs written and sung by ultra-groovy bass player, Shonna Tucker. They’ll have the classic Spooner Oldham on keys, John Neff on that pedal steel, and EZB drummin’. Wow. C’mon January! I can’t wait to hear
"Ghost To Most" again. - gracey
Steve Earle
Anything by Steve Earle is great but we
especially like "GuitarTown," "I Feel Alright," "El
Corazon," "Train A'Comin'," "Copperhead Road," . . .
Okay, maybe we can't just limit it to a few with Steve.
- naomi
Robert Earl Keen
Same with Robert Earl, it's tough to
single out just a few but "Gringo Honeymoon"
probably ranks his best. Both his live albums, "Live
At The Sons of Hermann Hall" and "#2 Live Diner" are
great and demonstrate the difference between REK
solo (with guitar and fiddle accompaniment) and REK
with a band. His debut record, "No Kinda Dancer" is
another real Texas music classic. Oh, and his cover of James McMurtry's "Levelland" is
worth the price of "Picnic" all by itself.
- jitter
Lucinda Williams
While "Car Wheels on a
Gravel Road" is Lucinda's best and most fully
realized album, you pretty much can't go wrong with
anything by the reigning queen of alt country. -
jitter
The True Believers
The True Believers only
released one record in the mid eighties while they
were together, "Hard Road", it's been re-released on
CD with a previously unreleased second album. Great
stuff from alt country pioneers Alejandro Escovedo
and Jon Dee Graham. - jitter
Lucero
These guys have the rough
earthy voices that make you think of Slobberbone or
Creosote. Many of their songs reek of unrequited
love - the level of emotion consistent with the early
years of high school - but it grabs you anyway.
They ring true enough to be autobiographical -- hard
luck in love, I guess. The songs range from
straightforward ballads to fast songs with driving
drums and aggressive guitars. If you're looking
to give them a try, "Tennessee" is their best so far.
- naomi
Reckless Kelly
It's hard to
beat RK's 1997 debut, "Millican, Oregon", but also
check out their "Live At Stubbs" or the new "Wicked,
Twisted Road". It's more country than alt
but the guitars sound great and those boys know what to
do with a fiddle. - jitter
Old 97's
The 97s first two
records, "Hitchike to Rhome" and "Wreck Your Life"
were both great raucous, primarily acoustic affairs
but they really hit their peak when they went
electric on their major label debut, "Too far To
Care"- if the influence of LA punk band X isn't evident
with songs like "Timebomb" and "Melt Show", the
guest vocal by Exene Cervenka on "Four Leaf
Clover" drives it home. It's also their last truly "alt country" record.
- jitter
Neko Case
With a voice like
classic country itself- Neko Case injects some
modern sensibilities into the old genre. Working
with bands like The Sadies, she makes the most tried
and true country arrangements sound fresh. Check out "Blacklisted" or "Furnace Room Lullaby".
- jitter
The Gourds
Anything by The Gourds.
Really, anything. - jitter
Slobberbone
Slobberbone's first
record, "Crow Pot Pie" alternates between
countrified stompers, Crazy Horse-like jams and
blaring guitar rockers. It's lo-Fi approach makes it
more interesting but when they polished up the
production on "Everything You Thought Was Right Was
Wrong Today," the results were arguably their best
record. - jitter
Gillian Welch
Although she was
raised in a Hollywood showbiz family. Gillian Welch,
With partner David Rawlins on dobro and guitar, does
some of the most authentic appalachian country music
around. Her first record, "Revival," is almost perfect. "Hell
Among The Yearlings" and "Time The Revelator" also
outshine the more commercial work she did on the "Oh
Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack. But at least
that got her noticed and put her on the map. -
jitter
Dave Alvin
Former Blasters
guitarists Dave Alvin also teamed up with X in the
mid 80s when they briefly became The Knitters- and
introduced the punk generation to C & W.
His first solo album, "Romeo's Escape" reworked
songs by The Blasters and X, songs he's been
reworking ever since, but never really outdoing the
versions on "Romeo". Also notable- "King Of
California", "Out In California" and his latest, "Ashgrove".
- jitter
Peter Case
10 words: "The Man With
The Blue Post Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist
Guitar"- or is that 11? I don't know, but it's still
Peter Case's best work to date. His production of
and contribution (with Dave Alvin) to the Mississippi
John Hurt tribute album, "Avalon Blues" is another
fine piece of work. - jitter
Wilco
Wilco's first record
"AM" sounded a little like the Replacements with
banjos and fiddles. It cemented their place in the
alt country canon and garnered them heaps of
critical praise as the best rock n roll band in the
world. They started expanding their sound with their
second album, "Being There" a 2 disc set that set
the stage for their move away from alt country while
still maintaining the quirky energy of "AM".
- jitter
Uncle Tupelo
UT's first record "No
Depression" blended punk rock with southern rock and
even a little folk music, so effectively that its title was adopted
as the name of a movement. Their much more produced
final album "Anodyne" was allegedly recorded when
Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy were
no longer speaking to each other. It's the sound of
a band coming apart and one of the best alt country
records ever. - jitter
Scott Miller
You don't hear a lot about Scott Miller outside of
Tennessee but he's worth getting to know. He had
a band in the mid to late 90s called The V-Roys that
produced two gems of "alt-country" rock and roll. Check out
"Just Add Ice" (1996) and "All About Town" (1998) from
Steve Earle's E-Squared Records. "Are You With
Me?" the excellent live solo acoustic
record from 2000, offers a mix of V-Roys songs
and several that would later be recorded with the Commonwealth. In 2001, Scott
Miller and the Commonwealth released "Thus Always To
Tyrants," on Sugar Hill Records, demonstrating his
ability to branch out as a songwriter and containing a
serendipitous mix of ballads and rockers.
His 2003 release, "Upside Downside," continues along
those lines. - corndog
SiteMap
last updated 11/13/07
©
Copyright 2005
SlackerCountry.Com
All Rights Reserved
