Top 10 Alt-country bands


http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2013/04/alt_country_best_bands.php

Attached is an URL for an interesting article in the Dallas paper about the Alt-country sub-genre. I really like most of these bands. If you don't dance to the Gourds, you don't have a spine. I would add Alejandro Escovedo and Steve Earle to this group. Any other alt-country artists of note?
maxnewid
marty, i agree with you about bill lloyd (feeding the elephant is a power pop classic). also agree with ogsarg about wilco--there ain't much country left in 'em. the story i read is that after wilco put out its good-but-conventional countryish debut, tweedy was so blown away by son volt's far greater debut that he was inspired to go in the progressively more idiosyncratic-pop direction of his best work.
Son Volt is on the list folks at no 2, sharing the spot with Wilco which is kind of a joke. Also Whiskeytown? Ugh. Ryan Adams needs to just please go away.
If Hiss Golden Messenger qualifies as Alt-country, IMHO they go right to the top of the list. However, they sound more Alt-acoustic blues to me. Either way, Poor Moon is a stunningly good record.

Marty
HGM certainly would be Alt Country in my book, pretty damn pure form of it at that. Their last 2 releases, Haw and Lord I Love the Rain are right up there with Poor Moon. Give them a go if you have not already. I'd recommend the Bandcamp downloads as they are 24bit and Haw comes with a great 4 track bonus EP.

Phosphorescent is probably the one I play more than any other. One of my all time favorite song writers. My wife is about to ban me from playing "A New Anhedondia" (track 7 on his latest) anymore, it seems to be on here at least a couple times a day:)