Jim's ps -- for me the term 'alt. country' indicates the combination of (post
> Nirvana) ALT-rock and traditional COUNTRY. UT/Jayhawks exemplefy this
> movement.
>
> I mean how can people deny UT's influence when the Alt. Country Bible (No
> Depression) is named after one of their albums?? Somebody help me here??
> (by the way I am aware that the term 'No Depression' has its roots at the
> very least in The Carter Family -- but I would bet a quick survey of Peter
> Blackstock and Grant Alden would reveal that they used the term with UT
> somewhat in mind).
>
As usual with this stuff, it all depends on how you look at it, and from
what distance. When Uncle Tupelo came along, I listened to 'em and liked
'em quite a bit. Some of their records, both pre- and post-breakup, are
among my favorites. But to this listener, at least, they didn't stand out
stylistically from stuff I'd been listening to before. The Scorchers,
Escovedo, Alvin, etc. They just sort of went into my record collection
among all the other roots-oriented stuff I'd been throwing money at for
years and years. It was only later that I started reading about their
influence, etc. I'm not denying that influence, but just noting that, as
Dave said, it probably has as much or more to do with circumstance and
context as it does with the actual music. This applies to any music at any
time, I guess, though with some music -- Elvis, the Beatles, Charlie
Parker, Elmore James, Mozart, etc. -- the substance transcends or
reinforces circumstance.
All the yammering about Uncle Tupelo and alt.country by young squirts who
wouldn't know Lefty Frizzell from Whitey Ford did get a little annoying,
I'll confess. This debate, finally, really hinges on how narrowly you want
to define alt.country. If you define it as punk-oriented guys playing
guitar-driven rock with country undertones and heartland attitudes, who
showed up in the mid- to late-80s, then I'll agree, you're probably
correct about Tupelo and their influence on the genre. Draw the category a bit
wider,though, and you're gonna have to contend with everybody from the Amazing
Rhythm Aces to Mason Profit, from Rank and File to the Rolling Stones' Let
It Bleed, from Ricky Nelson to Doug Sahm, from Carlene Carter to New Grass
Revival, and on and on.
And how does "No Depression" as a name for a magazine prove anything about
Uncle Tupe's music itself? They're the media, right? If they see Uncle
Tupelo as big influential innovator, that's fine. But it doesn't
necessarily prove anything. -- Terry Smith
ps I think Jim might have taken my post a little bit wrong, because, I'll
admit, it didn't have a great deal to do with Tera's post that was copied
in that message. Her post just indirectly sparked those thoughts; I
wasn't necessarily challenging her argument.
