Alt-country
The Handsome Family
The Handsome Family are an alternative-country duo from the United States, the couple Brett and Rennie Sparks who live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Brett writes the music while Rennie, who also is an author, writes the lyrics. Typical for the lyrics is a close connection to the literary genre American Gothic, and Gothic elements found in early country and folk songs. Their seventh CD, Last Days of Wonder (June.
Johnny Dowd
Johnny Dowd (born March 29, 1948 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American alternative country musician from Ithaca, New York. Typical of his style are experimental, noisy breaks in his songs and strong gothic (in the sense of dark and gloomy) elements in the lyrics as well as in the music. There is also a strong undercurrent of black humor and the absurd in his work.
Neal Casal
Neal Casal (Born November 2, 1968 in Denville, New Jersey) is an american singer-songwriter.
He has released several solo albums and from 2005-2009 was a very important part of Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, with whom he was constantly touring and recording. Discography: Fade Away Diamond Time (1995)
Rain, Wind and Speed (1996)
The Sun Rises Here (1998)
Black River Sides (With Kenny Roby) (1999)
Anytime Tomorrow (2000)
Basement Dreams (2001)
Bill Kirchen
Bill Kirchen (1948- ) plays a diverse style of American roots music. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he currently lives in the Washington DC area. In addition to his own band, Kirchen appears on recordings by dozens of other artists. Most notably, he served as the guitarist for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen in the late 60s and early 70s.
Hackensaw Boys
The Hackensaw Boys first began playing their joyful blend of old-time and bluegrass-tinged string-band music on the streets of Charlottesville in the autumn of 1999. Far from limiting themselves to the old-time canon, however, the Hackensaws have been first and foremost a band of songwriters. Their music, while drawing upon the spirit of the mountains, is sophisticated and informed by the best elements of punk rock and classic country music. As one reviewer put it:
The Hackensaw Boys
The Hackensaw Boys first began playing their joyful blend of old-time and bluegrass-tinged string-band music on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia in the autumn of 1999. Far from limiting themselves to the old-time canon, however, the Hackensaws have been first and foremost a band of songwriters. Their music, while drawing upon the spirit of the mountains, is sophisticated and informed by the best elements of punk rock and classic country music. As one reviewer put it:
Bob Wayne
Acoustic / Country artist from Seattle, Washington. Visit his myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/bobwayne.
Cory Branan
Cory Branan is a singer/songwriter, born in Southaven, Mississippi. He garnered comparisons to Ryan Adams, Pete Yorn, and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst with the release of his 2002 debut album The Hell You Say. By his teens, Branan was playing hard rock and heavy metal, eventually fronting a Black Sabbath cover band. In his early 20s he began to explore the music of John Prine, a move which urged him to pick up a guitar and start writing songs.
Mark Kozelek
Mark Kozelek (born 1967 in Massillion, Ohio) is an American singer-songwriter and frontman of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters. Originally a lynchpin of the slowcore movement in alternative rock with Red House Painters, Kozelek's harrowing autobiographical lyrics gave unflinchingly detailed accounts of pain, despair and loss while the lengthy accompanying music was slow, intense, dissonant and bleak.
Eric Chenaux
Eric Chenaux's songs wind up in all kinds of places and shape-shift from tender jazz standards to bossa to fried folk to meaninglessly romantic balladry. Sometimes these same songs are re-baked as modal tunes for guitar, banjo, drums, swinging speakers and wah-wah pedals (as they appear on Dull Lights) and become near-covers of themselves. In the 1980’s and 1990’s Chenaux played rhythmically demented half-riffs with hoary post-punk band Phleg Camp and later wrote songs with the guitar duo Lifelikeweeds.
