First thing? Best Taxi Live ever. Ric's the sort of person I could happily yak with for hours. (Michael, too, but that goes without sayin', <3)
I never liked the Alt. Country moniker any more than Alternative Rock, and for many of the same reasons, though I'll allow as how a subset of both Americana and Country artists perform music that could be accurately described as such. (and I think you can be Alt Country without even being
country, depending on what country, heh-this, in part because the meaning of the term
changed) I'd personally have referred to the track played on the webcast as Alt. Country rather than Americana, specifically because it sounded English to my ear and was mixed like a Beatles record; I think if I were producing an Americana record, there would be no flangers, no chorus-I'd find another way to make it modern, if the artist asked for that. (I'd also get to the point a lot quicker; I don't necessarily write Nashville, but I can't help hearin' it if you know what I mean)
I really liked Michael's comment about the ability to perform the material in a rural setting without getting your a$$ kicked, but there's a little more to it than that, and I think it's probably because you can be Alt. Country without being
rural. It all comes down to context, at least for me. For one, there's a finite acreage of cow and/or horsesh*t you have to step in, in order to be able to wear a hat and boots without the slightest trace of irony. (let's jes' say that raising crops and animals for a living gives one a different perspective on the circle of life than watching The Lion King)
Without those acres, you might as well not be seen outdoors wearin' 'em in some parts, let alone play any music, but say, for instance you was to not only wear the hat and boots but also a Manuel suit and you and your similarly-dressed four-piece combo with drums showed up at the American Legion in Monon, IN and played some punk rock; you'd get out of there with your skin intact, but you'd have to play it pretty dang
authentic, and you'd be playing Alt. Country, not Americana. (that is, unless your lyric content/perspective is
authentically rural-it isn't so much the exceptions, it's more a matter of there being a great deal of
middle ground) If those lyrics
are rural, then the only thing that prevents your performance from being Americana is the suit; I think only Emmylou's bunch and Marty Stuart's are allowed to wear those, and still be Americana. (Kris Kristofferson could, but he won't)
Anywho, if your perspective's rural, you ain't wearin' the suit, heh, unless you're Little Jimmy Dickens. (and Jimmy Dickens has made his bones; he left a wide streak of his sense of humor on a young and impressionable Brad Paisley, and has thereby suffered a mild career resurgence)
I also think there's a certain amount of implied respect for country music's traditions in Americana that's maybe lacking in Alt. Country; some of 'em wouldn't deign to play either radio-format country nor even the real thing, which is what many Americana artists are
trying to do. (cowpunk was originally a derogatory term applied to Alt. Country by proponents of the then-current Outlaw Country, heh, which had recently replaced Chet Atkins' famed Nashville Sound as the choice of Country radio programmers) Americana is less about how you dress and more about how you act than either Alt. country or modern radio-format country. The sad thing about Americana is some of the artists are so sincere, they can barely crack a smile; gods forbid their shows be entertaining, they wouldn't want to look like they were trying to please anyone, but the best of 'em
sound good enough to overcome the shoe-gazing and they don't need no steenking Auto Tune.
I really enjoyed hwoodum's link and found this comment by Truersound very telling:
"The fact is the term country has been co-opted and now means sacharine sounding bullshit. you guys argue about the weirdest things.
Oh, and I remember 15 years ago when this same argument was being had, only then the term was alt-country and now there is a new term for it because “alt-country” has been co-opted by whiny sounding indie bands with weak singers, and guitarists who can’t seem to use a tuner.
15 before that it was cow-punk, 10 before that it was country-rock, 10-15 years from now when the term ‘americana’ gets co-opted by some other group for a cheap buck, who knows what it will be called.
Truth is corporate music has always sucked, be it country or non, and every so often someone needs to come up with a term to describe the artists on the fringes who have more in common with the past than the moment. This is nothing new."
Sort of points up that "moving target" part of the Taxi show. I believe the Merriam-Webster quote more accurately describes what was once known as Country-Western music, a term that'll get you laughed at in Nashvegas, these days. I'd imagine a guy like Dale Watson probably chafes a bit under the Americana banner, because terminology is actually more prone to change than music, viz modern radio-format country, which is hardly distinguishable from Late 70s Southern Boogie/Rock or even 90s-vintage Aerosmith in some cases. (only the name changed, the sound simply moved to a different number on the dial) I think a lot of Bob Seger's late-70s output would fit comfortably on modern country radio, and Kid Rock seems to agree.
(and perhaps the music follows the demographic of its listeners, warping to suit their changing needs)
The issue is further complicated by the fact that no artist is at any time obliged to
remain in one genre; it's important to mix and distill the various influences into one's own particular brew, it's what
branding is all about. Crossing genres actually helps an artist up to a point, but if you get too versatile, it becomes vastly more difficult to be authentic. It's a tightrope an artist has to walk to sustain a career longer than five years or so; my homeboy Johnny Cougar was a snot-nosed punk, but John Mellencamp, along with Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and fellow hoosier John Hiatt, is one of the architects of Americana, which I might define as what happens when you can
effectively combine the two great rivers of ethnic American folk music, by which I mean the southern appalachian Scotch-Irish string band and gospel music that became the core of our Country music, and the country blues, work songs and Black gospel music that became blues and R&B. (Rock&Roll was only their
first baby, Bluegrass was the second) And yes, there were also Crosby, Stills, Furay, Hillman, Ronstadt, Henley Frey, Souther, Raitt, etc., shoot, maybe even James Taylor, Carly Simon, Carole King and
Paul Simon, certainly John Fogerty and maybe even Rickie Lee Jones or Jackson Browne, much of what's now considered Americana was what the hippie movement and the remains of the folk boom bequeathed (or maybe grafted on) to the SoCal country-rock movement that was later personified by the Eagles, who were, in turn, celebrated by the country radio community on Common Thread; I suppose I should
also mention The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", at this point)
But all genres depend on the context, either that of the artist, the audience or both. Maybe it's easier to categorize genres by who listens; if I see a young bar patron wearing engineer boots, jeans with turned-up cuffs and a plaid flannel shirt, I'll need to check his tattoos, jewelry and what beer he's drinking to know for sure. (if it's Guinness he's a punk, microbrew usually means Grunge, Rockabillies/psychobillies will usually have a PBR, tribal tats and hemp necklace usually means a jam band fan, but he'll wear cargo shorts and sandals instead of the jeans and boots; if the boots are cowboy boots he
might be Americana) So to conclude, (finally)I think the difference is this: if you're inspired by rural music, but not North American rural, you're probably Alt. Country, and if you're both or possibly a pub band from Dublin that sounds like The Sons Of The Pioneers, you're Americana.
PS: don't even ask me what them Ubangi earlobe plugs mean. Ethnic vs folk is a whole 'nother thread.
but as an adult we are able to make our own choices, that not solely depends on our childhood experiences, I think. It can even depend on such trivial things as what you actually succeed in playing, or what gear you can afford, or "get" using.. as those things will suggest certain genres or blends.. As far as I remember, John Hiatt aspired to be a country artist for many years, untill the Americana segment was carved out and defined. Springsteen was rock, Elton John was pop, Mavis Staples was soul, Jamey Johnson celebrated a country, Buddy Guy blues, Bob Dylan folk, Dierks Bentley... well a lot of the names on that Americana chart used to be in different genres back when, didn't they, and many still crosses over?