> ><<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.>>
"Alt country"(which are the worst two words in the English language to mass
market anything) or whatever you want to call it covers such a wide
spectrum of musical tastes that I don't think there can ever be the kind of
general consensus
needed to raise one band or one sub-genre to any kind of Nirvana-like
stature. So far, the numbers just ain't adding up to any kind of
"breakthrough" for "alt-what-ever-it-is". The fact is that most people just
plain and simple don't like it. You would have to do one hell of a PR job
to foist it off on the public. Some country version of Marilyn Manson or
Rob Zombie might be able to briefly pull it off and we could ride on their
coattails. More sex and drugs! For the most part, we're all a pretty
conservative lot, and I doubt our "ethics" would ever allow us to go the
route of Marilyn Manson. We need to get used to the fact that "alt country"
is always going to be a sub-genre and turn that to our advantage through
reciprocity and good old pre-CMJ DIY ethics. I'm done now.
Tom Moran
The Deliberate Strangers' Old Home Place
http://members.tripod.com/~Deliberate_Strangers/index.html
