Re: Changing Subject Lines

[Jennifer Sperandeo]

Title: Re: Changing Subject Lines

I guess this isn't so much about who's a good alt.country band as who I like these days, but here goes:  the Pinetops from Winston Salem - I think that Jeffery Dean Foster (who is NOT JD Foster. he's a youngin') is a vivid, intuitive songwriter and the band that he assembled for his record Above Ground and Vertical is the tops - they're doing what might be called "Uncle Tupelo" but really they reind me of about 5 of my favorite bands all at once ...I think Beaver Nelson is the male Lucinda Williams - don't fuck up and miss him if you're gonna be in Austin...I love the Yay-hoos and think using Chip Robinson as the frontman is brilliant even if they're calling it the Backsliders...I like the emo-roots of Lou Ford...The new Hazeldine record (as yet without a home due to Unigram hell) is brilliant!  Its the ulitmate Chick's Roadtrip Record...Pete Krebs from PORTLAND is the real deal (another great band performing great songs) Sweet Ona Rose coming from Cavity Search Records soon...Little Sue from PORTLAND has the vocal talents of Iris Dement, the spirit of Loretta Lynn and the relevance of Edith Frost or Freakwater...Fernando from PORTLAND is gonna shock you all with his new album (nothing you'd expect if you've heard his other stuff) rootsy psychedelic roots rock - you heard me right...isolated scenes come up with the most interesting stuff - big city clusterfucks don't seem to matter as much to their participants...or something...xoxo
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>From: Don Yates <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "passenger side" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: Changing Subject Lines
>Date: Mon, Mar 1, 1999, 6:23 PM
>

>
>
>On Mon, 1 Mar 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>> Please divulge, Ms. Jdiva, the names of the really good stuff that's
>> tickling your ear. I'm always one for your passionate opinion and I must
>> confess to being a cynic at this point, not just regarding Tupelo
>> knockoffs but the the whole alt-country (whatever that means) scene as
>> well. Sad to say, but I have so little patience for CDs by guys with
>> acoustic guitars or bands of post-college boys with a few twangy
>> instruments and band names plucked from the twang cliche machine,
>> countless of which are piled up in my office at this moment in time.
>> Earnestness is one thing, finding something fresh to say is another.
>> It's gotta be really something special at this point to make me want
>> to write about it and/or listen to it a million times. The Damnations
>> and Pete Krebs are the two that currently tend to fall into that
>> category.
>
>I'm kinda with our LA rock critic on this one.  Most alt-country albums
>are undistinguished, cliche-ridden mediocrities (the new albums from the
>Damnations and Krebs being two very big exceptions).  I suppose you could
>say the same about any other genre you care to name, but the volume of
>twang-rock poo seems to be increasing to a dangerously high level.
>Anyway, I'm also interested in hearing what's got the Austin twang-rock
>queen so hot at the moment.--don
>