At 11:42 AM -0800 on 3/6/99, Cheryl Cline wrote:
>I'm askin' you! <g>. Of course Gracey is the one to ask, as he goes back To
>The Beginning of Time, what a maroon I am. It's just that back when I first
>got on the Net, reading rec.music.country.western, I remember you as being
>the one with the knowledge of all things Flatlanders.
I reckon Joe could probably outdo me there too. <g>
>When I started seeking out like-minded twangsters, about
>this time, through Twangin', and later the Internet, the search for a name
>for the "what we mean when we point to it" music was already underway, and
>it referred to people like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock,
>Nanci Griffith, Tish Hinojosa, Rosie Flores, Dave Alvin and other, uh, "pre
>No Depression" musicians. Kevin Welch and Jimmie Dale Gilmore came up with
>"western beat," which Welch used for an album (and which Billy Block had
>been using for some time in L.A. for his showcases). That didn't take.
>Didn't Gavin start up the Americana charts about this time? Or was that a
>bit later? That name didn't stick either.
I remember the Name Problem, but I didn't much pay attention at the
time. I use pretty tightly defined nomenclatures, so that no matter
what people might think I'm saying, I always know. And as a non-Big
Tent-er, I don't use alt.country, No Depression, Americana, and other
titles synonymously. So I'm probably much less help than you'd hoped.
(I haven't got a clue as to chronology, either.)
>The thing is, there's this... reservoir of "alternative country" that has
>existed at least since bluegrass, the Original Alt.Country (TM) was
>invented.
Well, not being a Big Tent adherent, I disagree that either of these
are alternative in any way, but I think you're thinking of Western
swing. <g>
Bob
