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Your favourite album Americana, Alt-Country, Sounds of the New West

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Since 1998 (seem more like 5 or 6 years a go), I have found myself buying and listening to more and more albums classed as Americana, Alt-Country, Sounds of the New West.
Can I ask for favourite album in this genre over say the last 30 years?

For me, it is a tough decision between The Jayhawk’s – “Sound of Lies” and ‘super group’ Golden Smog’s – “Weird Tales”

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Comments

    • I have “More Sounds of the New West” as the pick of the bunch, and almost certainly the best cover CD I ever encountered.

      Track listing is below. It’s just one banger after another – some of them are obvious, but special shout outs for Season To Leave, How Does It Feel, Resplendent and Think It Over. Crazy good stuff.

      1 The Waco Brothers– Make Things Happen
      2 The Flying Burrito Brothers*– Dark End Of The Street
      3 The Guthries– Season To Leave
      4 Emmylou Harris– I Don’t Want To Talk About It Now
      5 Lou Ford– How Does It Feel?
      6 Slaid Cleaves– Horseshoe Lounge
      7 Shelby Lynne– Leavin’
      8 Calexico– The Ballad Of Cable Hogue
      9 Bill Mallonee And Vigilantes Of Love– Resplendent
      10 The Mayflies USA– Getting To The End Of You
      11 Merle Haggard– If I Could Only Fly
      12 The Handsome Family– So Much Wine
      13 Caitlin Cary– Rosemary Moore
      14 Willard Grant Conspiracy– Christmas In Nevada
      15 Giant Sand– Raw
      16 Allison Moorer– Think It Over
      17 Ryan Adams Featuring Emmylou Harris– Oh My Sweet Carolina
      18 Lambchop– The Butcher Boy (Live)

  3. You mention the Golden Smog album “Weird Tales,” I really love the “Another Fine Day” album.
    Other favs in this genre are the Mark Olson and Gary Louris album “Ready For The Flood” from 2009 (beautiful, acoustic, folksy and with wonderful harmonies) and as others have said, Wilco and The Jayhawks.

  5. My first thoughts were Car wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams or Southeastern by Jason Isbell but after a little further thought and by no means dismissing either of those I’m going to settle on Hadestown from Anaïs Mitchell. I think it feeds into my long standing enjoyment of opera. It presses similar buttons for me.

  6. I heard a track on Spotify by these people:

    “Lisa Van Houten Walhout, Benjamin Van Houten and Michael Van Houten are siblings whose musical heritage runs deep. But after 40-plus years of individual musical endeavors, this Grand Rapids, Michigan-based family trio has finally come together to create an album where hymns, gospel, folk and even rock and roll live in sweet harmony.”

    So, I think their music can fairly be described as “Americana / Alt-Country” ish.

    I looked to buy their 2014 album but, by gum, they’re hard to find with a Google search . . . . largely because they chose to call themselves “The Northern Soul”!

    Anyway, here they are:

    https://thenorthernsoul.bandcamp.com/album/the-northern-soul

    Lovely music.

  7. I hate the “Americana” word. I get it, as it is a convenient way of avoiding having to admit to any love of country music, which is the largest contributor to the genre, given also a smack of folk and blues.
    Me. I love country, folk and blues. And, often, western.

    • I’m with you on this. The term “Americana” in my mind became somewhat worthy and set my teeth on edge. The music itself is a different matter.

  8. It’s a toss up between Pneumonia by Whiskeytown and The Trinity Session by Cowboy Junkies. I don’t mind the term Americana, because to me pure country is a different thing. My band term our sound Americana because we don’t really fit in any other bracket.

  9. Blue Rodeo – Five Days In July

    I could change my mind but it’s an album I’ve been playing recently and I’m enthralled by its magnificence.

  10. I’m struggling a bit with what qualifies as alt- country, but a few of mine would be:

    Jason Isbell – Southeastern
    Iron & Wine – My Endless Numbered Days
    Gillian Welch – The Harrow and The Harvest
    Calexico – Feast Of Wire
    Rhiannon Giddens – Freedom Highway
    Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
    Lambchop – Nixon

    • Good call on Gillian Welch. They’re all excellent but if I had to choose one it would be the first one. I couldn’t stop listening to it when it came out.

  11. Tomorrow The Green Grass by The Jayhawks is up there, as is Being There by Wilco. March by Uncle Tupelo. Car Wheels by Lucinda Williams. Plus many others.

    Actually, Cruel Country by Wilco might qualify despite being from their recent era. I feel like they reclaimed the genre with that one.

  12. Always been a big fan since listening to Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison as a kid. I too like The Jayhawks a lot (say Tomorrow The Green Grass), post-prison Steve Earle is excellent, Buddy Miller, Alison Krauss, later Emmylou… There are so many. Never really got Wilco, oddly, though I have a number of their CDs.

  13. I got to Americana by Steve Earle singing with the Pogues on a couple of tracks. That coupled with a move to the US almost 30 years ago.
    Steve Earle – Transcendental Blues would likely still be my choice for favorite.

    Early Wilco fits the mold – but the later stuff is better!

    Isbell – weathervanes and southeastern (of course) is on the list. And Car Wheels from Lucinda, Rainy Day Music from Jayhawks.

  15. I guess my first love of “Alt. Country” (when that suddenly was a thing) was, and is, Freakwater. All of their albums are great, but “Springtime” is the one I found them on, and it has their very best track as an opener. Although “Sheherazade” is perhaps the better album.

    Other favourite bands and artists that would qualify for this thread (at least in parts) are:
    Neko Case, Nathan Bowles, The Handsome Family, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Courtney Marie Andrews, John Moreland, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Anaïs Mitchell/Bonny Light Horseman, Iron & Wine, Adrianne Lenker (solo), Sally Ford & The Sound Outside, Calexico, Shovels & Rope, Old Crow Medicine Show, Alejandro Escovedo – and the “Swedericana” of Daniel Norgren… Wilco goes without saying!

    But lately I’ve found myself falling a little out of love with the “Americana” sound, and the artists I still keep up with regularly are the ones who changes up their sound and genres and play more rock than country now.

  16. It’s a broad church, my favourite genre of music because it encompasses so many styles and different artists. Picking just one is almost impossible, but those I consistently return to include Cowboy Junkies, The Decemberists, Jason Isbell, James McMurtry, Chuck Prophet, Israel Nash, Joe Ely, Kathleen Edwards, Avett Brothers, Ryan Adams, Calexico, Neal Casal, Felice Brothers and many many more. I’ve never really got into Wilco and have always preferred Son Volt, although both bands share the same pedigree of course. My route in was via Emmylou / Gram and then into the 80s alt-country acts like Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. Any of the 7 Sounds of the New West CDs given away with Uncut are pretty good samplers of the state of Americana at the time of publication. Most of them can still be found on eBay.

  17. My favourite will always be The Low Anthem’s Oh my God, Charlie Darwin.

    But I’d also mention Blue Mountain “Dog Days” and The Knitters “Poor Little Critter on the Road”.

    • Well it is the ‘genre’ I identify with most but I hate the word ‘genre’ because it pigeonholes artists. For example Lambchop started off as Americana but are now anything but.
      A couple of my choices I am sure will raise objections but hey ho:

      10,000 maniacs – In my tribe
      Steve Earle – Guitar Town
      Lucinda Williams – Essence
      Green on Red – Here come the snakes
      The Gourds – Shinebox
      Otis Gibbs – Souvenir of a misspent youth.
      Drive by Truckers – An American Band
      Calexico – Black Light
      Chuck Prophet -,Homemade blood

  21. If we are restricting this to the last 30 odd years, then…
    The Jayhawks – Smile in particular. Seems they are a popular choice hearabouts.
    John Hiatt – continues to make great records.
    Alison Krauss – particularly with Robert Plant, and he probably needs recognising for championing some great material, including his newest outfit.

    Historically I got into all this via the Byrds and subsequent solo offerings by Gene Clark in particular, Gram Parsons of course, Emmylou Harris, Michael Nesmith, the aforementioned John Hiatt, the Band, the Everly Brothers and so on…

    • Much the same as you early on…..we used to sneak into a couple of my pal’s older brothers rooms, whilst they were at work or the pub, and listen to their records. Byrds, Burritos, New Riders, CSNY…possibly Eagles. In the mid ’80s, it became the ‘new country’ artists…..Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Nancy Griffiths, Dwight Yoakam etc, etc.

    • Chicken Skin Music just fascinates me for some reason. If I play it, I always have to repeat it, sometimes over and over. It’s just got some power over my imagination. It’s magical.

    • I think that one shares a bit of DNA with Angel Eyes by ABBA. Gary obviously likes them, I’ve noticed other nods to their stuff (the bridge of Quiet Corners is another).

    • That is an excellent list, @dai. It includes several artists who really should be on our list, such as Bonnie Prince Billy, the Walkabouts, Gretchen Peters and the Delines, How did I forget them?

  25. I’ll mention Kindling, an album by the other G. Parsons in the Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gene. A fabulous album that covers all aspects of Americana styles. And it gets a box set treatment too, next month.

  28. Lots of my favourites already mentioned but not Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams, I know history showed him to be an absolute bellend but that’s some record. The other record I’ll throw into the mix is Look Out Mama by Hurray For The Riff Raff.

  29. This magnificent thread is a playlist just screaming to be created. I will do one in the next few days.

    I decided to jot down a few personal favourites and I very soo had rather a long list….

    How very unlike me to be so long-winded!

    Laura Cantrell – Not the trembling kind
    Rodney Crowell – The Houston Kid
    Vic Chestnutt – Is the actor happy?
    Lambchop – Nixon
    Flying Burrito Brothers – Gilded palace of sin
    Iris Dement – Infamous Angel
    Eilen Jewell – Queen of the minor key
    A Camp – A camp
    Lyle Lovett – Pontiac, Step inside this house
    Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball
    Basia Bulat – A heart of my own
    Lucinda Wiliams . Cartracks on a gravel road
    Ron Sexsmith – Secret Heart
    Kathleen Edward-Failer
    Dolly Parton – Litte sparrow
    Ry Cooder – Borderline
    Daniel Lanois – For the beauty of Wynona
    Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen . Lost in the ozone
    Asleep at the wheel- self titled
    Fred Eaglesmith – 6 volts
    The Chieftains . Down the old plank road
    Handsome Family – Twilight
    William Prince – Reliever
    Cowboy Junkies – The Trinity Session
    k.d.lang -Ingenue, Shadowland
    Mary Guathier – Drag queens in limousines
    Gillian Welch – Revival
    John Hiatt – Slow Turning
    Bonnie Light Horseman – first album
    Oh Brother, where art thou? Soundtrack
    The Big Easy – soundtrack

  30. I’m delighted about what a very popular thread this is @craig42blue.

    But now I’d like to ask you all. … What are your favourite songs from the albums you have mentioned or by the artists you like?

    The quality of the song-writing is one of the great strengths of Americana.

    I’ll kick this off…

    Lucinda Williams

    Ron Sexsmith

    Laura Cantrell

    Mary Gauthier

    Kris Kristofersson

    Eilen Jewell

    Rodney Crowell

    Commander Cody

    Pat Green feat Lyle Lovett.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    • A kind request KFD: please cut down the number of video links, it slows threads down a lot for me and I think others. Your urge to spread new music is a good one but we can do a youtube search! Thank you 😊

  31. My apologies @mc-escher. Thankyou for your very tactfully expressed comment.
    I promise I will promise no more YT clips on this thread.

    Going though all the artists that that been mentioned, my thought started to go back to the time before the term Americana was coined. John Peel used to play a lot of this kind of music but in those days it was called country rock.

    I suddenly remembered one British band, Heads, Hands and Feet, who I saw at a free concert in Hyde Park in 1971 along with Humble Pie and Grand Funk Railroad.

    https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/hydepark-7-3-71.html

    The guitarist Albert Lee was a remarkable virtuoso. Would you believe it? he’s alive and well, 80 years old and living in Malibu, California.

    The Wiki entry is an interesting read.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Lee

    He was in Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band and she said of him that Lee is “a brilliant guitar player. His sound is unmistakable—often emulated, never equaled. When Saint Peter asks me to chronicle my time down here on earth, I’ll be able to say (with pride if that’s allowed) that for a while I played rhythm guitar in a band with Albert Lee.

  32. Another great country rock favourite from the Peel Show was Poco’s song Rose of Cimmaron from 1976. I had no idea what the song was about,….

    Wiki put me straight.

    Rose of Cimarron is the sobriquet given in American frontier lore to Rose Dunn, who at age 15 was romantically involved with and an accomplice of the outlaw George Newcomb.

    Well I never. She even inspired a 1952 Western B movie

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045106/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_0_in_0_q_rose%2520of%2520ci

    Poco was formed by ex-members of Buffalo Springfield, Richie Furay and Jim Messina, after Neil Young and Stephen Stills moved on.

    i would say that several of Neil Young’s albums belong on our list of Americana favourites. There are several other Canadians already listed, such as Cowboy Junkies and Blue Rodeo.

    Also worthy of a mention are the Four Strong Winds Hitmakers, Ian and Sylvie. Ian also wrote the beautiful Someday soon which was a hit for Judy Collins.

    i suspect that Canadian artists would never describe themselves as Americana. They have their own strong Country Music history and traditions,

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_country_music

    They even have their own ginormous rodeo, the Calgary Stampede,

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_Stampede

  33. I’ve been following this thread for a while now, and I’ve been wondering when someone would mention the man who, in my view, is the greatest songwriter ever to work in the Americana/Alt-Country genre.

    I refer, of course, to Townes van Zandt.

    Perhaps he’s not considered “Americana/Alt-Country”? I don’t know. …

    • Glad to see you here @DuCo01.

      Americana might be a slightly imprecise genre, but Townes most certainly belongs here.

      i suspect you know a few more relatively unknown Americana artists who deserve a mention.

      Townes belongs to a whole sub-genre of very talented alt-country artists who died far too young..

      Hank Williams, Blaze Foley, Gram Parsons, Patsy Cline…..

      • Well, a relatively unknown Americana artist who definitely deserves a mention is Ian Noe, from Kentucky.

        I love his debut album “Between the Country” (2019).

        And has anyone mentioned Joan Shelley yet?
        She’s now released six quietly superb studio albums in eleven years:

        Electric Ursa (2014)
        Over and Even (2015)
        Joan Shelley (2017)
        Like the River Loves the Sea (2019)
        The Spur (2022)
        Real Warmth (2025)

  34. Looking at all the artists who covered Townes’s songs makes think of a couple of other artists that deserve a mention…

    Nanci Griffith – Other voices, other rooms
    John Prine – debut album

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