50 best alt-country albums of "all time"

Lots of good stuff on that list. I suppose they went with Wilco's "Being There" instead of "AM" because the former is a better album overall, even as it marks their departure from the alt-country genre.

And yes, "Trace" is a better album than both of those ... although it's a peak Farrar hasn't reached since. (Sunshine beat me to it!)

Of all the 1990s alt-country albums I own, "Hollywood Town Hall" might be the one I still play the most. Some of those songs are literally spine-tingling for me. The Jayhawks should have been much more popular.

 

I guess I just don't understand the definition of alt country.
I love Gillian Welch and Lyle Lovett. I would never have thought to call them alt country.

 

Never was a huge Jayhawks fan, but I'm reminded to put on some Golden Smog later today.

 

An "alt-country" supergroup (whatever that means).

I think it's a label early 1990s music writers came up with, about the time "No Depression" came out (actually, there was a magazine named after that album).

It's kind of like "Emo" music ... the definition is very flexible and immediately eschewed by "Our Music Can't Be Labeled" artists.

 

I guess I always just thought of it as country music that was influenced or included elements of 'alternative' music.
But 'alternative' is such a nebulous categorization itself. It's a BS way to label a broad array of music that can be difficult to fit into genres.
I find it difficult to wrap my mind around a category that encompasses Gillian Welch and Drive-By Truckers.
Once the category becomes that broad it ceases to be a category.

 

Related, I was glad to see JTE get some love on this list. But I don't consider his music "alt" in any way. He makes country music.

 

One of the greatest Dylan covers ever:

 

I like Paste. On the occasions I've read it, it has led me to some interesting music.
But I'm inclined to think that alt country is just a catch-all for country music that is acceptable to hipsters.

 

Perhaps, although I don't know too many fellow fans of much of this music I'd call hip. I'm certainly not. And alluding to what I mentioned initially, whoever made this list seems to have more taste than your average hipster.

 

I don't consider myself a hipster, but I've been accused of being a hipster.
On this forum I was once called an uber-hipster, which sounds like some kind of scary hipster-Nazi hybrid.

Perhaps I am a hipster without realizing it. Lack of self-awareness seems like a hipster characteristic.
When I was younger I was often guilty of eschewing things just because they seemed too popular.

I'm in a quandry over this, and many other things.
In general, I don't like country music; however, I like Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris.
I bought 'Wrecking Ball' when it was released.
Does that make me a hipster or an alt country fan or both?
I've never thought I was either.

 

Does the fact that I just pointed out that I bought Emmylou Harris' 'Wrecking Ball' before Paste pronounced it great make me a hipster?

 

I grew up in the South and mercilessly mocked country music as slow and dull. Then I discovered Uncle Tupelo while rummaging through CDs at Barnes & Noble during a weird time when I was looking to fill a post-divorce void. UT led me to Gram Parsons which eventually led me to DBT and so on and so on. Now I have the greatest taste in music of anyone I know.