alt-country Archive
15 Apr 2016
Album Review: Eric Ambel — Lakeside
Indie cred: it’s an elusive quality, one that most artists would be pleased to possess. Indie cred connotes a level of achievement that suggests one’s work is more than ephemeral, […]
11 Jan 2016
Album Mini-review: Milk Lines — Ceramic
File next to: Skip Spence, 13th Floor Elevators, Black Angels Just when you think the guitar-and-drums-duo format is totally played out, along comes Montréal-based Milk Lines. Rather than slammin’, unsubtle […]
04 Dec 2015
Album Mini-review: Supersuckers — Holdin’ the Bag
File Next to: Long Ryders, Jason & the Scorchers, Peter Case If Michael Jackson could hubristically anoint himself King of Pop, it stands to reason that Supersuckers should be allowed […]
23 Jul 2015
Hundred-word Reviews for July 2015, Part 3
Blues, r&b, post-jazz and country-flavored singer/songwriter music: never let it be said that I only write about rock. Here are five fine releases in a wide array of musical styles. […]
08 Jul 2015
Album Mini-review: Rhett Miller — The Traveler
File Next to: Old 97s, Pete Yorn In his role as guitarist and lead vocalist of Old 97s, Rhett Miller has been at the modern-day vanguard of successful rock/country cross-fertilization. […]
08 Apr 2015
Album Review: The Mavericks — Mono
There’s much talk these days about the sorry state of country music. The genre – commercially, more popular than ever – is overrun with what its detractors call “bro country.” […]
14 Jan 2015
Album Review: Sid Griffin — The Trick is to Breathe
In the immediate wake of the excesses brought forth by psychedelia, popular (rock) music took a decided turn toward the simpler, more pastoral. Mere months after Cream were hitting the […]
14 Jan 2014
EP Review: Old 97’s and Waylon Jennings
The argument is often put forth – and not wholly without merit – that modern commercial country and western is an extension of rock music. The thinking goes that today’s […]
02 May 2013
Album Review: Hymn for Her Presents Lucy and Wayne’s Smokin’ Flames
Rock’n’roll doesn’t have a long list of successful male-female duets; at least not ones that, y’know, rock. Other traditions have done well with the duet format: Porter Wagoner and Dolly […]
06 Feb 2013
Album Review: The Coal Porters – Find the One
I have a friend who possesses a much wider range of musical interest than my own. Unlike me, she rarely concerns herself with such trifling issues as what genre best […]