Alt Country/Folk, American roots

Dgarretson...Rosanne Cash's new album is indeed excellent! My favorite so far this year, (yes, I know we are only a month into 2014), but still an fantastic release.

Rosanne gets my vote too, nicely done! Also, Matraca Berg wrote the lovely "Back When We Were Beautiful" on Old Yellow Moon with Emmylou and Rodney.

A hundred thumbs up for the Matraca Berg recommendation. She's a very talented writer and singer who released a few albums years ago and then dropped out of the Nashville scene, for quite a while except for session work (check out her harmonies on Oh, Cumberland w ELH on the Songcatchers soundtrack, or better yet, her singing lead on that song, which I believe she wrote, on The Dreaming Fields. Her work never quite fit the Nashville mold and so some of the old stuff is a bit overproduced, but if you like Dreaming Fields, check out The Speed of Grace and Sunday Morning to Saturday Night. Most highly recommended.

I'll also give a shout-out to Shelby Lynne's baby sister, Alison Moorer. If you can find it, her duet of Picture w Kid Rock is outstanding.

Check out Amanda Pearcy (singer/songwriter from Austin).
Esp. 2nd CD, Royal Street.
Disclaimer: some personal bias at play here, but it's great stuff.

A lot of good choices so far (Hiss Golden Messenger being my personal favorite among them), but there are a few names that I'd add.

First - since the OP mentions Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Wilco among his reference points - I'd suggest a quick listen to The Bottle Rockets. Tom Henneman was a guitar tech and "non-member" of Uncle Tupelo and I regard Bottle Rockets as the third "nephew" band. They've done some great stuff over the years (I'm a sucker for sad songs and Waiting on a Train is my gold standard for hard rockin' weepers). I'd think this is close to a "can't miss" recommendation given Todd's stated preferences - although I've been wrong before.

Two other names that immediately come to mind are 16 Horsepower (picture Uncle Tupelo as channeled by a bible thumping hillbilly on psychedelic drugs) and Alejandro Escovedo. When Escovedo was really on his game (roughly 1992 to 2005) , I'd argue that his output held his own with anyone's. An A list name for sure.

Straying further from rock music, Townes Van Zandt is also worth thinking about. Like Escovedo, I think Townes best material is is truly timeless music.