it’s hip to be hick! just when you think you’ve figured out the difference between emo and math rock, you’re in a bar listening to a band from ‘tucky with a lot of hair and maybe a big hat and that’s when you realize something’s going on. you’ve been listening to the blacks, clem snide, songs: ohia, and the like for a couple years but this is the first thought you’ve given to the possibility that it’s a genre of its own. maybe you only recently discovered the hideout, bloodshot records, and pigtails; now you’re starting to think maybe these things were around well over 2 years ago. you start asking, and the answers are varied (and often surly). like texas, this alt.country stuff covers a lot of territory.
your first lesson: just because rumpled cutie ryan adams is making this brand of folkie, americana, shit-kicking rock more visible nowadays, don’t call it a trend. it’s as old as uncle tupelo and runs as deep as hank iii. that’s what my good friends kindly told me saturday night at schuba’s when i remarked that the openers, while tight, melodious, and adorably dressed in matching pbr t-shirts, seemed rather along for the ride. ‘there is no ride,’ they screamed, crushing old styles on my forehead between each word. i was (physically) forced to conclude, therefore, that it’s not a wave, and it’s nothing new, which i guess is why it’s not called ‘new wave.’
its official title is ‘insurgent country,’ but it goes by many others. however, only badweather calls it ‘goat rock.’ i think i understand her term, though, because it sort of reminds me of goats as well. if mainstream, alan jackson, god-bless-america, proud-to-be-a-stupid-idiot country music is like a cow—slow, ignorant, and drooling snot (no offense BeSsIe), then this stuff is of a more goatish quality: it eats beer cans for breakfast, bleats mournfully, will hang out on the porch with you, and if you turn your back on it for a second, it will kick your ass.
confession time: i do remember lying on a hill on the bank of the mississippi some summer in the mid-90s and watching waves of patchouli stank rise off hackey-sackers grooving to son volt at river fest. and i put that whole 2pelo set right out of my mind. but now i’m seeing these down-and-dirty rednecks, many of them city dwellers, whose roots seem equally punk rock and hillbilly folk. how to explain this? if the aesthetic is all about the back woods and the small town, why is it sprouting like ditch weed in the streets of the windy city? like any total geek, i turn to merriam webster online for answers to life’s big questions.
insurgent. n. 1 : a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent
2 : one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one's own political party
country. n. 1 : an indefinite usually extended expanse of land
2 a : the land of a person's birth, residence, or citizenship b : a political state or nation or its territory
3 a : the people of a state or district
4 : rural as distinguished from urban areas
so the way i see it, it’s all a big contradiction. it’s wearing cowboy boots on michigan avenue and starting beer bottle brawls in the berghoff. it’s a spy in both camps. and yes, sometimes it’s a pose, it’s hip 20-something white kids with college educations donning blue collars for a night of cow-tipping. but we’re still in the midwest, and you can still drive for an hour to don a life vest and spend all day casting for walleye. chicago is where the prairie meets the steel beam, and a mecca for smart country music. that's my 3 cents.
for further reading
the insurgent country home page
the gumbo pages
dusted vinyl chicago show listings
