Cowpunk

So I've been thinking lately abou the various "alt-country" bands and musicians out there. There are only a few big ones. The ones that come to my mind are Uncle Tupelo, the Old 97s, and Whiskeytown. I know there are several others, but these three seem to encompass the major approaches to the genre.

Alt-country, or cowpunk, is generally a fusion of country and punk. This fusion can be either thematic or stylistic in nature, and it can be approached from the side or the country side. The Old 97s started out as a punk band playing with country lyrical themes and instrumental flourishes. They've since morphed into something more of a pop-rock band with faint punk and country tinges, but if you listen to something like the classic Too Far to Care, it's like someone took a bunch of country lyrics and played them as fast and hard as any punk band.

Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown come from the opposite direction--they're playing country music with a bit of punk and classic rock influence. These are the guys who listened to Gram Parsons and decided he had the right idea. It's really country music that occasionally rocks out, but it works very well.

Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown are both defunct now, but each morphed into a new artist/band. Uncle Tupelo became Wilco and Son Volt, and Whiskeytown yielded Ryan Adams' solo career. For our purposes, we'll look at Wilco and Ryan Adams (mostly 'cause I've never listened to Son Volt's stuff).

Wilco has quickly moved away from Uncle Tupelo's country roots into what can only be described as electronica crossed with Neil Young. If Young played around with electronica (like contemporary electronica, not that stuff he did on Trans), you'd have what Wilco does: bizarre blips and squiggles, distorted guitar with the gain turned all the way up, and occasional strummed acoustics and pianos that soothe and lilt. Good stuff. They've evolved in a logical fashion from one album to the next, even if that evolution is surprising in its rapidity (over the course of five albums, their sound has completely altered. You go back and listen to A.M., then listen to A Ghost is Born. It's like two different bands).

Ryan Adams has likewise moved away from the sound he perfected with Whiskeytown. Over the course of five albums, though, he's genrehopped as though he were on speed, going in new directions with seemingly no rhyme or reason other than his own personal whim. His latest album, Cold Roses, has actually returned to the Whiskeytown sound: well-crafted country-rock tunes that are tight, warm, and a pleasure to listen to. But he's also done some pop-rock, some garage/indie rock, and some mope rock in between the dissolution of Whiskeytown and Cold Roses.

There are notable similiarities between the two. Both are devoutees of the classic rock canon. They both know their stuff by heart, and they lovingly bring that sense of tradition and history to their music. The biggest difference between Wilco and Ryan Adams is in self-perception. Ryan Adams perceives himself as the next big thing, the heir apparent and successor to the throne. He loves attention, craves it, and one feels that part of his "enfant terrible schtick" (to quote All Music Guide) is designed purposely to keep all the focus on him. He wants to be one of the reverred names in rock and roll, and he tries so hard to find exactly where he fits in the great lineage that he's a bit overbearing. Cold Roses is actually a good album because for once he doesn't seem to be trying too hard; rather, he's playing music he's comfortable with, music that fits, and it comes across much more effectively.

Essentially, Adams missed the memo that Wilco must have got--just make the music you want to make. If it's good, people will listen to it and like it. Wilco have pursued their own idiosynchratic muse over five albums and various side projects, and their dedication to their craft is admirable. They are simply going where the music leads them, and their joy at making the music they want to make simply because they like it means that there are many, many fans willing to follow them down whatever path they take.

They're both good, don't get me wrong, but Wilco's growth seems to be the result of natural expansion and evolution, whereas Adams' seems to be the result of schizophrenia and a forced effort at expansion of expression.

I've no idea where all this was going or came from, but I've been listening to Wilco and Whiskeytown and Uncle Tupelo and Ryan Adams and Neil Young all week, so this sort of rambling is only to be expected.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Wilco, "I am trying to break your heart"