Alt-Country
What 'country' meant before the format gave up.
Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Whiskeytown, Old 97's, Drive-By Truckers — alt-country was the '90s answer to mainstream country's hat-act decade. It bled into Americana, then mostly stopped needing its own name.
Names worth knowing
USA · 1953 — present
Lucinda Williams
Louisiana made audible.
USA · 1979 — present
Jason Isbell
Wrote 'Southeastern' and meant it.
USA · 1996 — present
Drive-By Truckers
The South as it actually is.
USA · 2006 — present
The Felice Brothers
Catskills barn-band Americana with a literary streak.
USA · 1989 — present
Margo Cilker
High-desert Oregon Americana with literature in the lyrics.
USA · 1981 — present
Brandi Carlile
The biggest voice Americana has produced in twenty years.
USA · 1976 — present
Ana Egge
A songwriter's songwriter, prairie to Brooklyn.
USA · 1947 — present
Emmylou Harris
The harmony singer who built modern Americana.
United Kingdom · 2015 — present
William the Conqueror
Cornwall trio writing literary Americana with three guitars.
United Kingdom · 1979 — present
Robert Vincent
Liverpool songwriter in the Springsteen-Petty lineage.
Sweden · 2007 — present
First Aid Kit
Two Swedish sisters who out-Emmylou'd half of Nashville.
Sweden · 1983 — present
Daniel Norgren
A one-man Swedish Big Pink, recorded to tape.
Sweden · 1983 — present
The Tallest Man on Earth
Kristian Matsson, one guitar, a voice like cracked porcelain.
Sweden · 1990 — present
Sarah Klang
Dream-country from Gothenburg.
Norway · 2013 — present
Darling West
Oslo Americana duo with three Spellemann awards.
Norway · 1989 — present
Signe Marie Rustad
Plainspoken Norwegian Americana.
Norway · 1993 — present
Madrugada
Norwegian noir-rock with a country undercurrent.
Norway · 1976 — present
Sivert Høyem
The Madrugada baritone, solo and uncompromising.
Norway · 1979 — present
Thomas Dybdahl
Stavanger's hushed alt-folk auteur.
Denmark · 1979 — present
Marie Fisker
Aarhus noir-Americana, Howe Gelb's longtime collaborator.
Finland · 1980 — present
22-Pistepirkko
Finnish alt-country garage trio with forty years of patience.
Australia · 1976 — present
Kasey Chambers
Grew up hunting foxes on the Nullarbor. Sings like it.
USA · 1990 — present
Courtney Marie Andrews
Desert-honed Americana with a Joni-grade pen.