Replying to Misha:

Wilco's the sort of band I want to love, but actually don't.

I like them a lot better when they leave the alt-country in the dust and set out for Brian Wilson & Neil Young territory. A.M. is my least favorite of their albums, but it has some solid contributions on there ("Passenger Side" and "Pick Up The Change", for instance) which seem direct, but actually have clever lyrics and odd chord changes.

Far, far better -- Mermaid Avenue, with Wilco and Billy Bragg putting music to Woody Guthrie's words. Not alt-country per se, but folkie rock is definitely one of the streams that feeds into the genre.

Yeah, Mermaid Avenue rocks. Not Mermaid Avenue II, though, unfortunately.

Lambchop. Another band that does nothing for me. My friend Mark's pithy description of them -- "Richard Nixon singing in front of your high school's orchestra."

I hear Charlie Rich's countrypolitan phase with Mark Eitzel on vocals.

The Salesman & Bernadette would be a suboptimal introduction to Vic -- it's not much like the rest of his oeuvre (and, see above, re Lambchop). I'd recommend Is The Actor Happy? or About to Choke instead, with Silver Lake as a later purchase once you've fallen in love with his sensibility.

Yeah, but I think TS&B may be the only one in print. For the record, I'd also recommend any of the three albums Misha recommended.

Springtime is my favorite.

You crazy. Old Paint is better.

Gah! No, no -- Cowboy in Flames. Their best album. Also, the Do You Think About Me CD, for their covers of "Revolution Blues" and the title track.

Take her word over mine here, too.

Best PVC to my mind is still Pine Valley Cosmonauts Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills. A bit less all over the place, but everyone appears to their best advantage.

Out o' print, too.

I'm also not a Kasey Chambers fan.

Bad Livers, yes. Old 97's, yes. Whiskeytown, yes. But only Stranger's Almanac. The Knitters, yes.

Trailer Bride is also a fun alt-country band. And, as David will tell you, Southern Culture on the Skids is mandatory.

And the Minutemen and Replacements, not just yes, but HELL YEAH.

I don't know much alt-country, so here are my most recent CD acquistions:

Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines
Tara MacLean - Passenger
Moist - Creature
Beth Orton - Daybreaker
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
Sam Roberts - We Were Born in a Flame
Jump, Little Children - Magazine
Leah Andreone - Veiled
Emm Gryner - Public

Those first six I got during a Half-Price binge buy a month ago, and nearly all (besides the OLP) were based on friends' recommendations. Most, I'd heard maybe one or two songs. A few, I'd never even heard a song by the band. The Emm I finally got this weekend.

I'm also not a Kasey Chambers fan.

The only song I know is "Crossfire," and it's not bad. It's got amusing lines like "I take a raincheck and I never ever check the rain."

I don't like the second Kasey Chambers album, which is, in fact, boring, but I thought the first one was interesting. It's not a desert island album, but I think it's a good one for someone interested in where alt-country is now. (I may be influenced by the fact that she's really good live.) Besides, Kasey Chambers was raised by wolves. I'll admit I live in a quirky region of alt-country, the part bordered by Americana and folk.

If you can only get one thing that people have recommended, get Townes Van Zandt.

Mission of Burma fans: Matador just put up this neat e-card.

Salute the Majesty... is not only not out of print, it's on sale at the Bloodshot site for $10. They give free US shipping too.

[link]

About To Choke is in sotck at Amazon, and looking it up has directed me a CD I missed called Left To His Own Devices that I'm gonna have to check out as well. And you can buy a signed tape of Is The Actor Happy? from Vic directly: [link]

If you can only get one thing that people have recommended, get Townes Van Zandt.

Second that. I like Our Mother the Mountain best, though it's his most produced (with chamber-country strings). But it's also got his best batch of songs, mostly in the dark, country-goth vein.

Jon, my current temp is a musician. She was very active in the Boston scene during the mid-80s, and her eyes got very wide when I mentioned that you'd played with Clint Conley. She's also a writer, and interviewed Roger Miller on three different occasions.

Really, Misha? I thought Salute the Majesty went out of print when their Johnny Cash cd went OOP. Hell, I thought that Vic's entire back catalog (save TS&B) was OOP, too. Interesting.

Jon, my current temp is a musician. She was very active in the Boston scene during the mid-80s, and her eyes got very wide when I mentioned that you'd played with Clint Conley.

Hee. What's her name? If you don't want to post it here, email me. Did you mention my radio show? She might have heard it back then.

I love "California Stars" from Mermaid Avenue. Whiskeytown is also good, and I had quite a nice conversation last December from a gentleman who used to be in the band. But d'oh on me for not remembering his name.

The Cash CD was not released by Bloodshot, and so there's a whole different set of distribution issues.