Talk:Alternative country

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Origin of the term

Rhett Miller of the Old 97's claims in this article that, "the first time [alt-country] got used was in a freaking article about our band." Does anyone have any idea what article he refers to?

Minor Edit

I removed the line "like a medicine show without the snake oil, the shows are filled with an incomparable energy" because it sounded like something out of a music magazine. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wooster84 (talk • contribs) 14:15, 8 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Prunin'

The list of artists is huge and unweildy. Howsabout either/and/or: 1. Cutting it down to bare essentials 2. Making two, three columns 3. Seperate Article --Oyster

Well, of the traditional American country music variety, what about Hank Williams III, grandson of Hiram King "Hank" Williams and so of Hank Williams, Jr.

65.25.73.137 (talk) 10:51, 29 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

My edits

Just wanted to state briefly the reasons for my edits. The first involved changing the discussion of the history of Alt Country to make it more clear about the two opposing forces of the genre, traditional country music and country rock. I also deleted several bands that were not alt.country artists and added a couple that are. I eliminated a web page that wasn't up anymore and added a new one that was. (Posted by User:HLS Group 3}

Going overboard with classification

It seems to me that people have been going a little overboard with classifying musicians as alternative country. For example, as much as I love Neil Young, I don't think that his "Harvest" trilogy and "Old Ways" albums qualifies him for this category. Isn't Kasey Chambers just plain country?

I added Grey DeLisle to this page on the grounds that she's often classied as alt. country, and has even been profiled in No Depression which is the alt. country bible. Pearce.duncan 04:41, 31 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think if you've been on the cover of No Depression as Kasey Chambers has, you belong [1]. -MrFizyx 01:47, 21 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Being on the cover of ND is not a sure guide to being an alt.country artist. I'm thinking especially of Lizz Wright, for which the editors (justifiably) took a lot of flack. John Prine is also a stretch. (Btw: ND is ceasing paper publication next month...so there won't be any more covers.) Cathalwoods (talk) 05:23, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

NY's Harvest could be alt.country, though Comes A Time is probably a better example. His Old Ways is straight country. Can we get a citation for Neil being the "godfather of a.c"? I don't think I've seen anyone make that claim for Neil - people usually refer to GP and the Byrds' Sweethearts album. Cathalwoods (talk) 05:23, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Mavericks

Aren't The Mavericks alternative country too? They were so described when they first came out. Badagnani 10:04, 17 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In the context of this article, I would say no. I see your point though. Stu ^{’Bout ye!} 10:21, 17 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Joe Buck?

Wait a second is the MLB/NFL broadcaster a Alternative Country Singer, I dont thinks so.

Dennis Kussinich 08 02:39, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Section heading "Alt-country Today"

This section, and especially the heading, gives the impression that american gothic is all that is happening in alt.country today. Can we change it simply to "american gothic"? Cathalwoods (talk) 04:53, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that it is misleading. I am going to update it --Omarcheeseboro (talk) 14:35, 26 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Citation Needed

Can we also (in addition to NY as godfather of a.c) get a citation for Uncle Tupelo's ND being the first alt.country album? And is it most accurate to say that it was the first alt.country album, rather than saying (something like) "the first cowpunk album, a genre which would later broaden to become alt.country"? Of course, I'm not providing a citation for that at the moment either... Cathalwoods (talk) 05:28, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Knitters

How can the contribution of The Knitters go unreported? They put out their first album long before Uncle Tupelo. The Knitters consists of members of X, a punk band. If The Knitters aren't pioneers of modern alt-country, I don't know who is.24.1.30.186 (talk)energyturtle —Preceding undated comment added 04:42, 15 July 2009 (UTC).[reply]

Yes, this article needs a lot of work, your suggestion included. Thanks. --Omarcheeseboro (talk) 11:58, 15 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I wish I had time to contribute more than suggestionsEnergyturtle99 (talk) 23:13, 15 July 2009 (UTC)energyturtle99[reply]

Clean up time

I am planning a cleanup of the article, dealing particularly with the tagged issues of weasle words and a lack of citations. If there are any suggestions about what else needs to be done to the article please post so that it can be incorporated.--SabreBD (talk) 06:56, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Long overdue, thanks. It obviously needs more focus, and more Uncle Tupelo too. --Omarcheeseboro (talk) 11:47, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This now done. I expanded the Uncle Tupelo section a little, but there could be more detail on major bands and solo artists.--SabreBD (talk) 09:45, 21 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Images

The best images for this article are the ones that explain certainly what Alternative Country is, Son Volt's image it's ok, but Dwight Yoakam's does not illustrate what this genre is, so i suggest the change of image to a Ben Bridwell's image featured on the Band of Horses article, thanks for your attention. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.248.69.68 (talk) 13:40, 4 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for taking your concerns to the talk page. I think it's debatable that BOH are "alt-country", and I suppose the same thing could by said about Yoakam. Therefore, I'm going to change the image to Blue Mountain. Thanks. --Omarcheeseboro (talk) 13:45, 4 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Opening Sentence

The opening sentence's statement--that a sub-genre includes one group that differs from another group--still allows for the possibility that both groups exist within the same sub-genre. I stumbled across this and have neither the knowledge nor the concern to fix it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wdjunkin (talk • contribs) 02:38, 26 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The entire first paragraph is inaccurate, and the AllMusic reference about the term "alternative country rock" is also inaccurate and doesn't have a human author attribution at the AllMusic website.

Alternative country--alt-country for short--actually developed out of rock and roll, so calling it a subgenre of country is historically inaccurate. How alt-country started was independent/alternative rock acts started adding country elements to their rock music. The term "alternative country" is just substituting the word "country" for the word "rock" in a play on words. So, alternative country did not come from country music, and so it's not a subgenre of country music. The album that is viewed as "the first alt-country album" is No Depression by Uncle Tupelo in 1990. However, there were many rock acts that were alt-country precursors to this album. John Mellencamp--a rock artist--released an album in 1985 that can be viewed as having alt-country songs on it, especially, "Rain on the Scarecrow," "Small Town," "Minutes to Memories," and "Lonely Ol' Night." Rock act R.E.M.'s second, third, and fourth albums--released from 1984 to 1986--can be viewed as having alt-country tracks on them, especially "Don't Go Back to Rockville," "Maps and Legends," "Driver 8," "Green Grow the Rushes," "Fall on Me," and "Swan Swan H." The song "Achin' to Be" The Replacements in 1989 is also viewed as alt-country. Drewchas (talk) 02:17, 13 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]