here's the piece Don's talking about:
Ruminations on SXSW '99 and the "Alt.Country" phenomenon from an insiders
perspective (and no, it's not me) :
Well another SXSW has come and gone. And sure I saw a few good bands and
hung out with old friends, but overall I am left with a really bad taste in
my mouth about the state of roots music.
I spent several afternoons and evenings watching some of the worst "music" I
have seen in a long time. And most of these shitty bands were playing in the
country, roots, americana style.
One of the biggest problems with these bands is their obvious lack of
musicianship. I'm no musical snob and every player doesn't have to be a
virtuoso, but c'mon some of these folks can't play at all. They sound like
7th graders who just picked up their instruments.
I'm open minded, in my book you can still be a worthwhile band and not have
a solid grasp on your instruments if you do one thing - write great songs.
After all the spirit of the music can overcome missed chords and out of tune
harmonies. Unfortunately this pack of lame bands failed
miserably in the song writing category as well. Suburban hipsters singing
about "wacky" white trash topics like trucker's speed and trailer parks just
rings hollow with this music fan. These bands don't seem to know the
difference between playing a musical style and parodying it.
I'm not a country purist or some kind of traditional music elitist. I don't
mind a little rock in my country or vice versa, the meshing of musical
styles has resulted in some of the greatest music ever. But to me the
bastardization of the country form as done by so many of these "alt-country"
bands is as offensive as Pat Boone singing Chuck Berry songs.
These "alt-country" showcases were packed with scenesters dressed up like
they were going to a Hee-Haw theme party. Women in pig-tails and guys in
spray painted straw hats that would surely get their asses kicked in an
actual honky-tonk. This crowd adores these bands and doesn't seem to care
what is being played as long as the band looks right and has a kitchy name.
The most disturbing part of the whole SXSW experience was seeing music
critics, label folks and radio programmers also eating these bands up like
they were the new Merle Haggard. The fact that these industry folks can't
seem to differentiate between heart felt, honest country music and dumb,
patronizing, nonsense blows my mind. If you were to ask any hard working
country musician the difference they would tell you its all
about the sincerity of the performer. Any 99% percent of these bands got no
heart.
The saddest part is the proliferation of these dime a dozen Americana bands
is what killing the whole roots music movement. The pie is only so big for
musicians, clubs, labels, and the more slices there are the less
there is for the folks who really love this music and deserve an opportunity
to make a living playing it.
