alternative country recommendations - Music Banter Music Banter

Go Back   Music Banter > The Music Forums > Country, Folk & World Music
Register Blogging Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Welcome to Music Banter Forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with over 70,000 other registered members. After you create your free account, you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 1,100,000 posts.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-01-2014, 07:04 PM   #1 (permalink)
not really
 
Sparky's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,223
Default alternative country recommendations

Can anyone suggest any country similar to this one band i know from the show "true detective"



I've always wanted to explore the genre but had no foundation to build upon other than johnny cash, who i only care for to a certain extent.

Suggestions would be much appreciated.
Sparky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2014, 07:14 PM   #2 (permalink)
The Big Dog
 
14232949's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Scotland
Posts: 1,989
Default

god, alternative country eh?
Not around the country scene to know what exactly is considered alternative (because to be fair, I think it's a genre with very little flexibility) but I'll have a crack at recommending some stuff.



Got a couple of this guys albums and they seem to be greeted pretty positively.



Been even longer since I listened to these guys, but I seem to remember the album 'Trace' being somewhat enjoyable.



I guess Ryan Adams would be the first name that would pop into most peoples heads if you said alt. country, but here you go anyway.
14232949 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2014, 08:31 PM   #3 (permalink)
air quote
 
Engine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: pollen & mold
Posts: 3,108
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparky View Post
Suggestions would be much appreciated.
I think I feel where you're coming from Sparky. Like weeded out emo country?
I like a lot of the artists who are on the Farmageddon Records label although a lot of those are probably not what you're looking for.

I definitely recommend William Elliot Whitmore and if you like that, just Google from there

__________________
Like an arrow,
I was only passing through.
Engine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-02-2014, 01:25 AM   #4 (permalink)
not really
 
Sparky's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,223
Default

splendid engine

bingo dude, exactly what I was wanting haha

found this shortly after.


Last edited by Sparky; 08-02-2014 at 01:43 AM.
Sparky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-02-2014, 01:43 AM   #5 (permalink)
the worst guy
 
Goofle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Miami is the place
Posts: 11,610
Default

http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...k-cabaret.html

Here ya go Sparky.

My personal favourite is Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat, though not all of his albums fall under that description.
__________________

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chula Vista View Post
[youtube]NUmCWGPgU7g[/url]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chula Vista View Post
[youtube]=LtYg1xz1A00[/youbube]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mindfulness View Post
2. What was the strangest/best/worst party you ever went to?
Prolly a party I had with some people I know
Goofle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-02-2014, 01:44 AM   #6 (permalink)
not really
 
Sparky's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,223
Default

Cheers dude, i'll give that a run through

it's always exciting when you crack into a nucleus of stuff
Sparky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2014, 04:46 PM   #7 (permalink)
Divination
 
Necromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,655
Default

The Reverend Horton Heat.
Necromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-04-2014, 08:54 AM   #8 (permalink)
Zum Henker Defätist!!
 
The Batlord's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Beating GNR at DDR and keying Axl's new car
Posts: 48,216
Default

I've only listened to a bit of her, but I rather like Neko Case. She tends to mix in indie rock to her sound, so someone with a more alternative background should find her an easy gateway artist.



A more slow, soulful tune.



Though her first album is a lot more tongue-in-cheek and has some self-consciously cheesy country rave-ups that are just bags of fun if you aren't afraid of listening to something you can't take seriously. And it gives her a chance to really show that she has some pipes with some really raw, high energy country singing.




And he isn't alternative country, but Townes Van Zandt is an old school folk country singer-songwriter that someone who doesn't really like country music can still love. There's a lot more to his music going on than a lot of generic, strumming folk singers, and his lyrics and singing voice just know how to tear your heart right out of your chest and make you wish you'd never had one in the first place. Radiohead wish they could invoke this kind of despair.

This song is probably my favorite to show off his unique sense of musicality. The acoustic guitar always makes me think of dandelion seeds in the summer wind.



He has songs with more obvious lyrics, but as for the atmosphere, this is almost claustrophobic in it's misery, and subtly phantasmagorical. It's hard to figure out just what he's talking about, as it comes off as a stream-of-conscious dream sequence mixed with a folk ghost story. If I had to guess it's about drugs, since he had a drug problem that other junkie musicians could only aspire to. Supposedly he once shot up jack and coke, as in the drink, into his veins in front of his children.



Another song that's blacker than midnight with much more literal lyrics.




Oh and if you've never somehow listened to it, Violent Femmes second album, Hallowed Ground, is as amazing a country album as it is an alternative album. Dark too. This little song is about a guy going insane, pushing his daughter down a well, and then hanging himself in a barn.

__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien
There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.

Last edited by The Batlord; 08-04-2014 at 09:47 AM.
The Batlord is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-04-2014, 01:21 PM   #9 (permalink)
Aficionado of Fine Filth
 
Psy-Fi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: You don't want to look in there.
Posts: 6,794
Default

I saw these guys at Antone's in Austin, TX during the annual SXSW music festival around 10 years ago. Great, crazy show! They have a raw country/rockabilly/blues sound.

https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/art...y-shackshakers



Th' Legendary Shack Shakers- Bible, Candle and Skull - YouTube


Th' Legendary Shack Shakers: Wheres The Devil...When You Need Him (LIVE) - YouTube

They also do the best version of "Shake Your Hips" by Slim Harpo that I've ever heard...


Th' Legendary Shack Shakers - Shake Your Hips (2012) - YouTube
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwb View Post
A middle class job sounds like a boring menu option at a brothel

She's a Brick House
Psy-Fi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-14-2014, 12:38 PM   #10 (permalink)
Groupie
 
Swordfishtrombone's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 25
Default

I listen to a lot of alt-country, so this is going to be a fun thread for me.

Looks like most of my go to picks have already been put up here. I'll add that Uncle Tupelo did some really amazing stuff back in the 90s, and I'll also enthusiastically double down on recommendations for William Elliot Whitmore and Neko Case.

There's a group called Lucero that's done some really interesting alt-country. Their best was a 2003 record called That Much Further West , although, really, you can't go wrong with them. Any group that names an album off a George RR Martin appendix can't be bad.

My avatar-and-username-provider, Tom Waits is by no means an alt country artists, but provides a few great examples of that Handsome Family-esque sound. "Gun Street Girl", "Chocolate Jesus" and "Murder in the Red Barn" should are be squarely up your alley if you don't mind his offbeat singing voice.

A sort of alternative supergroup called the Hard Working Americans put out their debut record this year, and it's worth a listen if you're into alt-country. The've got a big, heavy psychedelic infusion that's just awesome. I'm not allowed to post links yet, but they cover the country classic "Blackland Farmer", and it's wonderful.

I could go on about alt-country all day, but I'll give you one last recommendation. This one's for the adventurous. There's an alt-country act by the name of Those Poor Bastards, headed by an equally interesting artist who goes by Lonesome Wyatt. This music is...intense. It's got some very heavy gothic overlays, but there's no mistaking it for anything but country. They do a lot of dark songs about murder, rural decay and creepy religious zealotry. It's all got a very old-timey feel to it, too which just helps it be creepy as hell. It's definitely not for everyone but if you want something a little on the crazy side, I can't recommend them highly enough. A few standout tracks are "Dust Bowl", their cover of "Walk the Line" and "He of Cloven Hoof."

Let me know if you like what I've thrown your way. I've got a million recs where those came from.

Last edited by Swordfishtrombone; 08-14-2014 at 03:27 PM.
Swordfishtrombone is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Similar Threads



© 2003-2024 Advameg, Inc.