><<Of course, what we really need is our own Nirvana. After hearing a bit of
>their new recordings and considering their slight but important impact at
>mainstream country with "California Angel" I'm thinking maybe The
>Derailers are the right horse on which to bet.>>
>
>Therein lies the problem. The fucking thing is overhyped already. At least
>grunge started selling, THEN got overhyped. It's now been 6 years or so
>(arguably) that this genre/format or whatever gotten any attention and every
>year we hear the same bullshit - I remember Peter Blackstock saying "this is
>the one that's going to blow it open" about "Tomorrow the Green Grass." Less
>than a year later, he admirably put his tail between his legs in the same
>paper he wrote it and admitted he was wrong. And the year before that and
>after that it was another record. Every year it's something new that's going
>to blow it open. I have no idea why I am typing this. Oh well.
If I'm not mistaken, Blackstock was referring to the type of music
originally considered alt country - Son Volt, Jayhawks and that ilk - music
more alternative than country that never had a prayer of appealing to
people who listen to Garth Brooks. It was incredibly, disturbingly
overhyped more as a successor to grunge at alternative radio than an
alternative to Nashville.
I'm talking about country music that is only alternative when defined
against Nashville. Without crap like Shania Twain and Tim McGraw, The
Derailers are just plain country. The format we need probably will not be
pushing the stuff Blackstock to which Blackstock was referring.
