> The year's most inexplicable musical fad was the vastly overrated genre of
> "Americana"— a/k/a "No Depression," "progressive country," "regressive
> country," "independent country," "insurgent country," "alternative country,"
"
(Blah blah blah, to borrow a phrase from Brad Bechtel <g>). What pisses
me off about these sortsa dismissals is that, to me, they almost always seem
to imply that any concerted (or even semi-concerted) effort to attempt to
cover music, or a scene, or whatever that falls so untidily in the vast spaces
between mainstream rock and country is bogus on it's face. Why is it so
offensive that there are musicians or a magazine (even a listserv <g>) that
are interested in making or following music that often borrows heavily from
both genres, often rendering it difficult to neatly categorize as either
Country or Rock? At least, that's what *I* get from these sorts of full-on
crit dismissals.
I realize I'm probably over-reading, but I still don't buy it, even
if I do think there are too many pretenders to the throne and cooks in the
alt.country kitchen if you will. I mean, show me a quote where Rob
Bleetstein(?) or Peter Blackstock or Grant Alden or the Bloodshotters have
ever said "*this* (alt.country) will be THE hot thing this year, we're really
gonna break big and be the new grunge or whatever. Maybe someone's done this
but I haven't seen it.
>Long on sincerity and short on talent, these are sensitive, educated, well-
meaning writers who genuinely lament the
> end of Route 66 consciousness and the blanding of America. Which is why no
one, critics or peers, wants to dog them.
I'm not sure what Lipton means by that, but if he means that the
alt.country crowd seems to be immune from similar attempts to cut the scene
down to size he must not read much music criticism.
Dan, offtabed and with more cliches than you can shake a stick at
tonight...<g>
