What's the difference? I'm labeling the genres on my Zen and trying to differentiate between the two, not that it is that important...but it kinda is. I have like Ryan Adams, older Wilco, Robert Earl Keen Jr. in Alt. Country and then in the Country Rock section I have The Byrds, but no one else YET. Right now I'm struggling with Lucero and The Broken Family Band, and later I will have a ball trying to label Neil Young & Bob Dylan (Classic Rock? Country-Rock? Singer/Songwriter?)

idk. Fuck.

If you went to college, you listen to alt-country. If not, you probably listen to country-rock.

what

Im gonna resist the urge to cut a promo here but contra: dude shouldnt you be banging your gf or trying to score a ball for the wknd as opposed to worrying about this microscopic bullshit?

anyways, good luck....

Bloor and Nobody +2

Ummm. If you went to college after 1986, perhaps. I don't think alt. country existed before late 80's. It's all contextual and temporal. The 80's was synths and bouncy beats... or hair metal growing into speed metal... it was big shoulders and hair and clothes and made a diffence... style was king. Other than the 'Mats who were too drunk to have a clue.

Alt.County reclaimed roots... and wanted to be anti-style and rough edged (sorta sounds like grunge huh?). I wouldn't call anything alt-county that was produced before, oh, 1985 and the Jayhawks?

dude just label Neil Young & Bob Dylan "classics".

I guess yr right about it all being contextual, and anyone could draw a different line in the sand. To wit: I believe Joe Ely was playing shows with The Clash well before 1985 and any Jayhawks.

-edit- and please, was not meant to be a contentious post, either. I hate labels. It's the music that matters.

Big and Rich is country rock.

I don't know that alt.country reclaimed anything. There were plenty of anti-stylish, rough edged rednecks listening to country music before alt-country came along. Waylon Jennings anyone? Maybe some David Allen Coe? Alt-country made it ok to listen to country music and still claim some sort of sophistication. You know...yeah I like my music with a twang, but I'm not one of those people kinda stuff.

The 80s did indeed suck. It' wasn't like the retro movies and music shows wanna tell ye. It was all hair metal and Madonna. There was some good stuff on the fringes, but it was much harder in those days before the internet to get info on stuff like the Replacements, Minutemen, Black Flag, etc...at least in my land locked part of the world.

Yeah but alt country made people like Waylon Jennings relevant to people who didn't apperciate them before.

Yeah, it also lets them listen to country music is special new bars where they can be properly shielded from the traditional country music fan.

nice conway twitty avatar by the way

i banged two different girls today. i leave on friday morning.

awesome.

Damn, that reminds me: I haven't rubbed one out today.

Back in a few.

I would've said '90 and Uncle Tupelo, but yeah...

The Broken Family Band are definately Alt. Country rather than Country Rock.

Ely was touring with the Clash in '79 as was Bo Diddley. While I got myself up and running on my favorite band I'll also mention that the Clash had rappers opening for them about 6 years before Walk This Way came out!

Amazing.

Steve

That's my boy.

country rock= rock for hillybillys
alt country= country for scenesters

All just goes to show how labelling is ineffectual and confusing. I'd say the alt.country tag came around with Uncle Tupelo. Country rock denoted late '60s - mid '70s bands like the Eagles, the Byrds, and Poco.

In between the two (and forgotten in this discussion) was the country punk/ paisley underground movement of the (extremely) late '70s - mid '80s, spearheaded in North America by Rank And File (featuring the Kinman brothers, who started out as the Dils, one of the first and most politically confrontational of LA's hardcore bands) and goosed continually in the UK by punk-associated traditionalists Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, and every pub rocker worth his salt.

Other American bands like Green On Red, Tex and the Horseheads, Divine Horsemen, Jason and the Scorchers, the Screamin' Sirens, Cowboy Bob and the Blood Farmers, Handsome Ned, and scores of others got tagged with that country punk label - even though they generally were neither country nor punk. They would have all benefitted from a good marketing term like alt.country.

As usual, there's a continuum at work here, with no real starting point and no clear boundary.

Loves me some classic "cowpunk".

The aforementioned Jason & The Scorchers
The Johnnies
The Colorblind James Experience
Skid & Mojo
The Beat Farmers probably get lumped in there too.

Most artists prefer the country-rock moniker or even Americana.

I think nowadays the whole "alt-country" tag almost seems offensive to many. I'm not sure why though.

I'd just tag em Americana.