Southern Rock may have made a loud entrance into popular culture a few decades ago, but it certainly didn't end there. Many bands have continued the tradition of adding a real southern flavour to their music by combining blues, boogie, country and rock, while often hitting us with dual-guitar attacks. Although some are more often classified as alt-country, their sounds can range from having a heavy country influence, to being a lot more rocking. [more inside]
posted by Midnight Rambler on Sep 10, 2008 - 31 comments

No Depression magazine will soon leave this world of toil and trouble. NPR reports that, due to falling ad revenues, the May/June issue of the revered alt-country zine will be the last. The magazine's Web site will remain active, but to what extent remains unsettled. [more inside]
posted by Bizurke on Mar 4, 2008 - 27 comments

Willis Alan Ramsey is to music as Harper Lee is to literature: he only made one album, and that's sad in it's own way, but it's such an overwhelmingly perfect album, you're okay with it. "Probably the most imitated singer/songwriter you’ve never heard," his legion of followers includes Lyle Lovett, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Waylon Jennings, and he is rightfully considered one of the fathers of progressive country. He will make his second record in his own good time, whenever the hell that is. Oh, and one of his songs was made famous by the Captain and Tennille, but please don't let that dissuade you from exploring further.
posted by jbickers on Nov 16, 2007 - 12 comments

MusicFilter: Rosanne Cash has in many ways followed in her father, Johnny Cash's footsteps as an independent artist critical of the industry and radio marketing. Black Cadillac, her first album since the death of her mother, father, and step-mother in 2003 was released in the shadow of the better known biopic Walk the Line. Reviews that are not obsessed with the movie tie-in appear to be generally positive: Canoe (orig Winnepeg Sun), Rolling Stone, and Metacritic.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Feb 6, 2006 - 15 comments