Like There Predecessors, Today�s �Alt Country� Artists Are Fighting For Recognition

Today�s alternative or alt. country artists as their known draw more heavily on yesterday�s renegade outlaw country stars than on modern country artists. These acts incorporate various country and western sounds of the past with elements of rock, punk and electronic music.

Artists such as Wilco, Bright Eyes, Blue Rodeo, Son Volt, Ryan Adams, and The Jayhawks took the �classic� sounds of Hank Williams Senior, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and the late Johnny Cash and infused them with modern influences. The result is a sub-genre of music that finds difficulty getting recognized by mainstream radio and television.

Defunct band Uncle Tupelo is widely credited with bringing today�s alt. country to the forefront in the early 1990�s. Though the band remained a cult act, two of its members, Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar would go on to become leaders of the movement. A bi-monthly magazine was created named after an Uncle Tupelo album titled �No Depression�. No Depression magazine was also was named after the 1930�s Carter Family song �No Depression In Heaven�. The magazine offers in depth coverage of alternative-country music.

Alternative-country music is not a new type of genre with its roots being traced back to traditional country and folk artists of the 1930�s and 1940�s. But it was the birth of rock and roll and the emergence of such artists as Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles and Johnny Cash among others who set the blue print. Rock and roll was born out the sounds of country, bluegrass, the blues, and gospel music.

With the emergence of the counter culture in the 1960�s, new sounds and styles of music appeared. Music had no boundaries and the innovation and experimentation of some artists led to the formation of country rock or alternative country, as it would be later called.

Artists such as Poco, The Flying Burrito Brothers, the Dillards, The Byrds, and Gram Parsons would lead the charge. Like today, alt. country in the 1960�s and early 70�s left record executives scratching their heads unable to classify the genre. The movement could not be ignored forever with mainstream artists such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Band, The Rolling Stones and Buffalo Springfield bringing this new sound to the masses.

As the seventies emerged artists such as Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Emmylou Harris would experience success on a massive scale resulting in radio to accept the new genre. The Eagles �Greatest Hits� album is the highest selling record of all-time in the United States passing Michael Jackson�s �Thriller� with over 25 million plus units sold and counting. Rock artist Bruce Springsteen incorporated various elements of country and folk on some of his best records. (�The River, Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad� and the new �Devils and Dust�).

But as the 70�s progressed and the 80�s began, the new sounds of new wave, punk rock and pop country formed. Country rock would be regulated to the underground where it would remain until the late 1980�s and early 90�s. 

In the 90�s it became cool for many artists especially those of a rock background to embrace country artists of the past. Johnny Cash with his Rick Rubin produced �American Recordings� experienced a resurgence in popularity and attracted a whole new younger audience.  U2 featured Cash on their 1993 album �Zooropa�. Waylon Jennings played Lollapalooza in 1996. Artists long ago forgotten by the public and the modern country establishment became embraced by the rock and roll world.

Loretta Lynn with the help of White Stripes singer Jack White made a comeback and won a Grammy with her latest album regardless of the unwillingness of modern country radio and television to play her material.

In the end it comes down to what�s old is new again. Alt. country or country rock as it was once known has always been around. Gone is the hey day of the 1960�s and 1970�s but it will always have its place as exemplified by the Jack White/Loretta Lynn partnering, Beck�s more laid back recordings and Wilco�s ever growing popularity. Just don�t expect to see 50 Cent doing a Johnny Cash cover. But hey, weirder things have happened.

Trent McMartin