Noteworthy roots & Americana albums
 

Below is a song list of my favorite Americana music that I did for Amazon in 2005. If you want to read more of my lists and reviews at Amazon here's a link to my homepage there: Gavin B. @ Amazon.com
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Noteworthy Roots and Americana Albums

Many have said that the current revival in roots music began in 1992 with the release of “No Depression” by Uncle Tupelo. After Lucinda Williams’ brilliant “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road” in 1998, and the runaway success of the “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack, it appeared that a full blown Americana trend was happening. Last year,“Van Lear Rose” a Loretta Lynn album produced by White Stripe garage/indie rocker icon Jack White was about the only album to consistently appear on year end critic’s lists of the Best of 2004.

The most striking aspect is how despite very little airplay or promotion in the four decades of it's exsistence, the music we call variously Americana, alt rock roots rock, country rock, or whatever you wanna call it, has maintained a steadily growing cult following, every since the Sixties. Despite attempts to give roots rock a shiny new pop music sheen, by the Eagles and other california pop rockers in the Seventies, roots music has survived. Indeed in a time when hip-hop and schlocky American Idol type acts have overwhelmed rock on the sales charts, the roots sound of Americana gains a bigger share of the market every year. Roots music has become a trend-proof genre like the blues or jazz.

Here's my retrospective of noteworthy albums from the early and middle years of roots rock and Americana:


PART I. THE SIXTIES

Music from Big Pink (1968)
The BAND- Ground zero in the roots rock revival in the Sixties underground.

Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
The BYRDS- McGuinn adds Gram Parsons to the Byrds and retools to a country & western sound.

The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (1968)
DILLARD & CLARK- A largely overlooked roots classic & bluegrass collaboration between Dillard family banjoist Doug Dillard & former Byrds singer Gene Clark.

Bradley's Barn (1968)
BEAU BRUMMELS- The San Francisco folk rockers meet Nashville at Bradley's Barn.

The Gilded Palace of Sin/Burrito Deluxe (1969)
FLYING BURRITTO BROS- Gram Parsons highest musical acheivement. A splinter group from the Byrds formed by Parsons & Byrds bassist Chris Hillman.

Townes Van Zandt (1969)
TOWNES VAN ZANDT- The emergence of Texas troubadour Van Zandt, who wrote a truckload of superb songs during his career.

Oar (1969)
SKIP SPENCE- A strange union of roots music with psychedelica by the dynamo who played with Quicksilver, the Jefferson Airplane and most notably Moby Grape.


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PART II. THE SEVENTIES

Magnetic South
MICHAEL NESMITH- Nesmith was no longer making a Monkee of himself with his country oriented solo albums beginning with Magnetic South.

Into the Purple Valley (1971)
RY COODER- Slide & finger picking guitarist and mandolinist Ry Cooder was a one man music revival, and still is 30 + years later.

John Prine (1971)
JOHN PRINE- After this debut album, John Prine became the leading anti-establishment singer in country music with topical songs like, "Illegal Smile" (marijuana use), "Sam Stone" (Viet veterans), "Pipe Dream" (Back to the earth movement) & "American Flag Decal... (patriotism & fundamentalist religion)

Aereo-Plain (1971)
JOHN HARTFORD- Ex-Glen Campbell songwriter goes hippie & produces a homespun album that has been called the "Revolver" of roots music.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition) (1972)
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND- Ex-LA based folk rockers do sessions with Doc Watson, Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff, and Merle Travis and make what has been called the "Sergeant Pepper's" of roots music.

Doug Sahm & Band (1973)
THE DOUG SAM BAND- Ex-Sir Douglas Quintet garage rocker makes an album of his country and tex-mex border roots. Bob Dylan joins him.

Elite Hotel (1975)
EMMYLOUS HARRIS- Session singer & Gram Parsons associate Emmylou Harris marks the starting point in her long running music career with her major label debut.

Comes a Time (1978)
NEIL YOUNG- Neil Young revisits country rock for the first time since 1972's "Harvest" and makes an even better album of rootsy sounding country rock.


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Part III. THE EIGHTIES

American Music (1980)
THE BLASTERS- The Blasters were at ground zero of the L.A. rockabilly revival. The Stray Cats were campy parodies and late-comers to rockabilly.

Musta Notta Gotta Lotta (1981)
JOE ELY- Ely was one of the early Texas roots rockers and still one of the best. He built an audience among American punk rockers when he opened for the Clash on their 1980 tour of the USA.

Fire of Love (1981)
GUN CLUB- The Gun Club fronted by flamboyant Texas vocalist, Jeffery Lee Pierce, was a combination of punk rock, rockabilly and Louisiana Creole swamp music. It came to be called shockabilly.

Sundown (1982)
RANK & FILE- An early Los Angeles based cowpunk band that had Aljendro Escovedo on guitar. Part of an entire breed of rockabilly influenced bands in LA, like the Blasters & X.

How Will the Wolf Survive? (1984)
LOS LOBOS- An east L.A. band who played rockabilly, mexicali, psychedelic garage rock, border wave and just about anything else.

Native Sons (1984)
LONG RYDERS- Yet another Los Angeles band who was heavily influenced by Gram Parsons and Buffalo Springfield.


Lone Justice (1985)
LONE JUSTICE- The last great band of the early Eighties cowpunk movement in Los Angeles. Maria McKee is still a great vocalist who never quite reached a critical mass.

Guitar Town (Remastered)(Bonus Track) (1986)
STEVE EARLE- The debut album of the most consequential artist in the roots music revival.

Tales from the Crypt (1987)
JOE "KING" CARRASCO - My first choice for Carrasco was the out of issue,"Snyapse Gap" (1982) but "Tales From the Crypt" is another excellent album by this border wave rocker.

Lucinda Williams (1988)
LUCINDA WILLIAMS- This early album by Lucinda was on the Los Angeles punk label, Slash. It is a collection of songs she wrote and performed in Austin for several years before moving to L.A.

Shadowland (1988)
K.D. LANG- Cowpunk singer K.D. Lang meets the legendary country and western producer Owen Bradley.

Slow Turning (1988)
JOHN HIATT- Hiatt had been around the music scene since the early Seventies but "Slow Turning" was his most sublime moment. "Bring the Family" was excellent but "Slow Turning" is a roots rock classic.

The Trinity Session (1989)
COWBOY JUNKIES- Ironically, the last great "Americana" album of the Eighties came from a Canadian group. By end of the Eighties it appeared that the leading edge of rock and roll was right back where it started: roots and country music.

This not generally my sort of thing but a well written and informative post always deserves my attention. I look forward to more.

I`m bumping this thread because the OP is packed with interesting albums and because it seems like a good place to respond to something Frownland mentioned:
^ I always meant to follow up on this comment, Frownland; sorry that it`s taken me, er, five months to do so. :laughing:

Did you end up exploring any of Ry Cooder`s albums ? He has some great material, but a discography that can make you wonder where to start. Well, this would be my advice for someone looking at Ry Cooder`s stuff for the first time:-

(i) don`t expect to hear anything remotely resembling Safe As Milk.
(ii) be aware that RC is one of those consumately polite musicians; when he collaborates his intention is to let his collaboree shine, so you may not hear the real Ry on those albums.
(iii) when Gavin B. recommended Into The Purple Valley, the excellent double-cd complilation The UFO has Landed hadn`t been released. This compilation album is easily the best way to get a handle on RC`s bewildering scope of styles. It does what only the best anthologies do; pulls together the various strands of the artists work, so you end up making connections that you hadn`t previously noticed. It was only after listening to UFO that I could at last say with some confidence, "Ah, yes, that is the RC sound !"

PS. I wonder why Gavin B`s excellent thread starter was left to shrivel up and die like a slug under salt. Anyone, three years down the line, with a comment on the albums he mentioned ?

Nice bump Lisnaholic. Looks like plenty of food for thought there from Gavin B. I recently came across the Van Zandt and will be sure to check out some more of these recs.

Thanks, stp ! I have to go out right now, but I`ll be doing some investigating too; might even get out that old John Prine cassette I`ve got somewhere. John Hartford sounds interesting too...
Anyway, I hope to see you reporting back later on this thread - and I hope you had a good Christmas, btw. :)

I think I will be keeping an eye on this thread! I've been very curious about "Americana" but I always put it off due to other music. I may very well make use of this, thank you!

I might also check out that Cooder compilation. I've listened to Paradise & Lunch and Into the Purple Valley and although they were good neither really drew me in for repeated listens.

> I`d be very interested to hear your impressions of Americana, Chives, as your exploration of Dylan`s albums seems to`ve run out of steam recently. :(

> Americana is such a huge genre these days and its musical boundaries are pretty blurred, I believe. Gavin B`s list stops at 1989, and since then Americana has developed a whole new dark and dirty side that those innocent Byrds never dreamed of. I`d be more than happy to trade comments and questions in this thread.

> I haven`t heard much of of those two RC albums you mention, but I know to my cost that sometimes RC is just too eclectic - he revives material that perhaps had been left in obscurity for a reason ...
The compilation album tracklist was put together by RC`s son, so you can hear some genuine highlights, as well as his dad`s personal favourites, all in one place. I hope you can find it, and enjoy it; at any event it might provide some light relief after all that Dylan material you`ve been wading through !

Yeah I got burnt out on the Dylan stuff after I got through to his early 90s. I'll get back to it eventually though because I love him as much as always, but the man released a lot of music! It's tough to convince myself to continue a Dylan marathon when there are so many artists I've never listened to before that I know I really need to!

And yeah I can already agree with that opinion about Cooder. He drags up any old song that strikes his fancy, which is hit and miss but definitely gives his work character. I've always met to listen to more of him because he seems like a very interesting and talented fellow. I'll try and track down that compilation and if not I'll listen to a couple more albums I guess. I'll start looking for the albums on this list as well.

I think we could start with the Smithsonian Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music before The Band. However, those first two records by The Band were something very special and have never been bettered in my opinion.

I did end up checking that album out, but I didn't look into his other works. I'll give UFO a listen, and I have heard some great stuff from Taj Mahal, which gives me high hopes that I'll enjoy it. Thanks for the rec!

> Well, I hope you enjoy it, Frownland. It`ll help if you like light, well-crafted covers of old-time music. And you`ve given me some homework to do, as I know next-to-nothing about Taj Mahal. Thanks for prompting me to investigate.

> Yes, without thinking it through, Swordfisherman, I wondered why Music From Big Pink was described as "Ground Zero in the roots rock revival". Maybe it`s a cheap shot, but surely all the tracks on Big Pink are original Dylan/Band compositions; what`s revivalist about that ?

> No way I could work my way through Dylan`s discography either, Chives, however much I like various individual albums. Hat`s off to you for persevering for so long !

A Short Guide to Dylan's Musical Legacy

Dylan's musical legacy of 37 albums is a bit overwhelming for those unacquainted with his work. But of those 37 albums, 8 albums released by Dylan between 1963 and 1975 are the ones that have endured as masterpieces.

1963- The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan- It's the first album in which Dylan wrote all the selections and it established Dylan as an unparalleled songwriter, one of considerable skill, imagination, and vision.

1964- The Times They Are-A Changing- Dylan at the height of his protest music phase.

1965- Bringing It All Back Home Dylan makes his first move away from folk music and into rock and roll by including a few selections recorded with a rock band of studio musicians. But the strongest songs on the album are the acoustic folk songs like Mr. Tambourine Man and It's All Over Now Baby Blue.

1965- Highway 61 Revisited- This is the Dylan album that shook the entire music world. Dylan has completely crossed over from folk music to rock and roll and headlines the Newport Folk Festival backed by a high decibel rock band fronted by blues guitar wunderkind Mike Bloomfield. The crowd boos Dylan and festival organizer Pete Seeger attempts to pull the plug on the show. Seeger damns Dylan as a rock n' roll sellout. Dylan's angry existential anthem "Like a Rolling Stone" rises to #2 on the Billboard chart. The era of folk rock is born is born... there's no turning back after the summer of '65.

1966- Blonde On Blonde- The edginess of Highway 61 is replaced by Dylan's full embrace of surrealism and the existential absurd with the release of Blonde on Blonde. Blonde on Blonde is comprised entirely of songs driven by inventive, surreal, and witty wordplay, not only on the rockers but also on winding, moving ballads like "Visions of Johanna," "Just Like a Woman," and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." This is the most poetic album Dylan ever produced.

1967- John Wesley Harding- Dylan returns after being waylaid by a serious motorcycle accident with a quiet minimalist album of country tinged music. The the music is simple, direct, and melodic, providing a touchstone for the country-rock revolution that swept through rock in the late '60s.

1969- Nashville Skyline- This album was very important when it was released because it was Dylan's first full fledged album of country music. Over the years it's influence has diminished because of the quality of the songs. In his autobiography, Dylan slyly insinuates he deliberately wrote inferior quality songs to find out if the public would buy his albums even when the song content was awful. The upside is that Dylan quit smoking and is in the best singing voice of his 50 plus career as a musician.

1975- Blood On the Tracks- For many Dylan fans, Blood on the Tracks is the last truly great Dylan album. It's my own personal favorite because everything is nearly perfect: Dylan's voice is still crystal clear, the back-up musicians are stellar, the production is flawless and the songs are the most personal and self revealing that Dylan ever wrote. The theme of the album is about the dissolution of his 12 year marriage with Sara Londes Dylan who had been the artistic muse of many of his most powerful song over the years. Dylan's songs are alternately bitter, nostalgic, sorrowful, regretful, and peaceful. It's the most authentic set of songs he's ever written.

For a novice Dylan fan: The 8 albums listed above are the ones you really need to get up speed on Bob Dylan's most significant recorded works. Select the albums in an order you want but listen to the entire content of each album to maximize your enjoyment of the music.

Dylan was the first album oriented artist and the songs on these albums add up to larger artistic and philosophical vision. To fully appreciate the concept of each album, it's important to listen to the entire album in the order in which the tracks are recorded. I'm not usually this dogmatic about listening to music but Dylan is one of the few artists who actually selected the songs on his albums with a broader artistic theme in mind.

Many think that three more recent Dylan albums are important: Time Out of Mind (1997), Love and Theft (2001) and Modern Times (2006). I was personally disappointed with much of the content of these latter day Dylan efforts but all three albums are worth checking out, along with some other 2nd tier Dylan albums like Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964), New Morning (1970), and Desire (1976).

Does anyone else remember when Donovan was touted in the media as "Britain´s answer to Dylan" - as if Dylan were a question, or challenge that had to be replied to ?
For some reason, people are forever trying to reduce music down to a kind of binary system ( http://www.musicbanter.com/pop/49280...each-boys.html etc. )

Having got that grumble out of the way, I have to say that there really is some justification in calling Skip Spence "America´s answer to Syd Barrett." There is a similar career trajectory from band member ( Quicksilver Messenger /Jefferson Airplane ) to mental illness and withdrawal. And both guys, in passing, produced solo albums that have some qualities in common; laid-back and unpredictable, they sound intimate but at the same time confound intimacy because the lyrics are so bizzarre.

So Skip Spence´s only solo album, Oar , is worth investigating, I´d say, but like Syd´s solo albums, it´s a strange and sad listen, perhaps best saved for those late-night moments when you feel low yourself.

[QUOTE=Lisnaholic;1269016]I`m bumping this thread because the OP is packed with interesting albums and because it seems like a good place to respond to something Frownland mentioned:

I agree with at least a dozen from list of albums from the opening post and heard other stuff from most of the other artists. I will seek out the list since his tastes are in tune with mine. Thanks for bumping it.

A few albums I'd add to the list:

Rockpile "Seconds Of Pleasure" (1980) with Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe.

Richard & Linda Thompson "Shoot Out The Lights" (1982)

Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars (1977)
(Drummer/lead singer from The Band also amazingly made two exceptional albums after surviving throat cancer the first time...May he rest in peace.)
Levon Helm "Dirt Farmer" (2007)
Levon Helm "Electric Dirt" (2009)

Don't miss the tribute to Levon at the Grammies.

Anyone else shocked Dylan's "Tempest" was shunned by the Grammys? I was expecting at least it being up for the best Americana album. I guess they missed the boat again. :(

Hi, Tbone ! Welcome to MB.
Sounds like you`re quite an expert on Americana. When I read that you`re familiar with a dozen of the albums in the OP list, I counted the ones I know; a very modest three or four. :(

I`ve heard -or rather, read on the internet- good things about the Levon Helm solo albums and so might check them out.

Strictly speaking, R & L Thompson are Brits, but the album you mention wins a lot of praise on Amazon, which makes me curious. Years ago I heard I Wanna See The Bright Lights Tonight . I really loved the title track, but was pretty disappointed with the rest of the album tbh. Do you think Shoot Out The Lights is especially good ?

Don`t worry about those Grammys, Tbone - here on MB, Tempest has won seven "excellent" votes so far. Why don`t you give us your take on the album too ?
http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...bob-dylan.html

Hot damn, I had no idea this thread even existed! Excellent guide Gavin, you are a gentleman and a scholar. I will be checking this out fo sho.

I was a little bit surprised about Dylan not getting a nom, but at the same time not surprised he got pushed out by Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers, even though neither of those are actually Americana records. It's a sad state of affairs, indeed. But I'm all for John Fullbright's nomination.

For what it's worth, here's the Americana/Alt Country records I really dug from last year...

Also, I've been listening to Terry Reid's Seed of Memory a whole lot lately... Terry was Jimmy Page's first choice for a singer for the New Yardbirds (who would become Led Zeppelin), but he was signed to a production deal so Jimmy ended up going to Robert Plant. The production deal ended up killing Terry's career, & eventually he moved to the U.S. & recorded this comeback record with Graham Nash in '76. It starts out & it sounds exactly like a modern Gillian Welch/Dave Rawlings record (and kind of like Harvest, too). A real early alt country forgotten gem.

Thanks for posting so many recommendations, j.w.

Last night I listened to, and enjoyed, the O`Be Joyful track; well, you spoke highly of the band and they have an intriguing name. I was very impressed with the lead singer, but thought the backing was a bit "thin" somehow. Don`t you feel that they`re missing an instrument or two ? :laughing:

Today , I`ll check out another new name from your list; John Fullbright.

In the meantime, if you don`t know them already, you might enjoy these guys`albums :-

http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...led-album.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...-brothers.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...-thompson.html

Nice thread.

New member at these forums, and thought I'd try to add to the conversation.

I consider myself a fan of Americana, but honestly find it a bit difficult to distinguish (if it is different) from genres such as Alt-Country, and I guess as this thread groups it, with Roots music.

I kind of started into Americana due to more recent Ry Cooder albums, namely what are identified as his California trilogy starting with Chavez Ravine, which Allmusic called Americana, while my favorite album of his is I-Flathead. I haven't explored much of his earlier work. As someone else stated, he can be a bit overwhelming.

I ended up exploring more Americana once I had found those three albums, and have found many albums that AMG calls Americana that I enjoy, although they are all much more recent than the list put up by the OP. The following list is also shows a small bias towards musicians with a Mexican American / Southwest bias, mostly because I grew up in an area where Mariachi music and Mexican music reigned higher than a lot. I'm not a big fan of strictly Mexican music, but I enjoy the Southwestern Sound.

That leads to a lot of my favorite "Americana" albums being rooted in the band Calexico and its members. They get themselves involved in a lot of projects besides their own releases.

My list of Americana and Roots albums I like:

Again, some of these probably aren't quite Americana, but they all work for me and I find them enjoyable. Most of the artists above are worth checking out if you are curious about the genre; just keep in mind that an artist like Robert Plant normally is not Americana (although the Raising Sand album with Allison Krauss fits, too).

I listened to a lot of those albums on the list in the 70's and 80's before the term Americana was even used in the music industry. Back then it was just country-rock or blues-rock. I wouldn't consider myself an expert. I'd say I'm an intermediate roots music connoissuer.

And you don't have to be American to do American roots music. Mumford & Sons are blokes too and they came away with Album of the Year for an Americana album. And yes Shoot Out The Lights is an awesome album. I've worn out my vinyl of it decades ago. Never got it on CD so I haven't listenned to it since...?..omg...the early 90's. Shame on me. I'll have to listen to it again somehow.

I'm not worried about the Grammys...they are what they are. I'm glad an Americana band won. Sort of redeems them for missing the boat on Tempest...but not much. I've tried writing a review on Tempest but I'm not very good. My words can't give it justice. A lot of fine writers on Amazon wrote some very insightful reviews.

It's sad about Levon. He was such an authentic American musician who fought to the bitter end for his love for music and singing.

Welcome to MB, then, emalvick, and thanks for adding your ideas to this Americana enthusiasts´ thread. One of the nice things about being enthusiasts is that we don`t have to worry too much about genres unless we want to.

The Ry Cooder albums that you mention are precisely the ones that I don`t know; the first Cooder album I heard was his 1976 album, Chicken Skin Music but I`m not up to date with his latest stuff. If you like a touch of TexMex in your Americana - as I do - you should like Chicken Skin Music as it has some great Norteño accordian playing by Flaco Jimenez. (Texmex ? Norteño ? I`m throwing these labels around as if I actually knew what they meant !)

Anyway, I really like Calexico too, especially their instrumental tracks. Talking of their side projects, I wonder if you know this track, in which they are featured guest artists :-



Comes from an album I keep planning to investigate called Tijuana Sessions vol. 3. Any comments/opinion about Nortec Collective ?

^ Yes, it`s pretty much the same for me too, Tbone. For instance Dwight Yoakam, who you mention, is a guy that I saw live in a London pub about 35 years ago. Thanks for the reminder ...

Good point about the nationality, which I hadn`t really considered before - unfortunately, it makes Americana even more difficult to pin down. :(
Ok, that`s a serious recommendation for Shoot Out The Lights, so I really should check it out. Thanks.

^ Wouldn`t worry too much about the literary quality of anything you write. MB is only occassionally patrolled by Grammar Police, and you`ve been doing fine at expressing yourself so far.

They're a two piece, it makes a little more sense in the live setting...



Cary Ann's last solo record is a "full instrumentation" affair, they did it with Butch Walker. You may enjoy it more.



Will definitely check this stuff out.

I object to them being nominated in the Americana category. I think that record kind of has some irish folk roots with the banjo & the strumming, which some Americana may share, but the song arrangements aren't Americana, the melodies aren't Americana... I just don't think it stands up to scrutiny. The melodies are like a contemporary christian take on Dave Matthews, & the arrangements are like Coldplay with a stomp beat. And the lyrics are like a particularly self-righteous take on U2/Coldplay. And they pull all of emotional strings that the Vineyard worship bands do (the strings, those big piano chords on the diamonds, the big crescendos & the drop outs), which is the church the guy's parents started.

It's about as Americana as Taylor Swift is country, only less. They're really just dressing the part, & adding in a couple of Avett Brothers harmonies & calling it day. It's pop music masquerading as Americana. And I think a lot of great Americana records could've gotten some exposure in that category when Mumford & Sons were already all over the show.

They performed a song from their twice nominated album Babel and participated in the Levon Helm tribute. Is that what you mean by all over the show?

The Americana music genre has only been around in the mainstream music industry since ‘95 and it has only been a Grammy category since 2010. In that short time I think the Grammy's are doing a good job promoting the genre. I’m no expert in what categorizes an artist or album as Americana but I do know that Mumford & Sons is recognized as Americana by the Americana Music Association (AMA) which is the authority on this music. I’d assume the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences would concur with them before choosing their Americana album nominations.

I preferred Babel getting Album the Year rather than Best Americana Album since that allowed Bonnie Raitt’s Slipstream to rightfully win it. I would have rather seen her perform over Mumford & Sons any day but seeing her perform at the AMA awards made up a little for not seeing her perform at the Grammy’s.

At least you got to give thumbs up for the immense exposure Babel is giving to the genre after winning Album of the Year. I personally would have much rather seen Bob Dylan’s Tempest take their spot but grievances aside the Grammy’s did no wrong this year for bringing Americana to the forefront of popular music.


Here's Bonnie Raitt at the AMA awards 2012 with John Hiatt. :)

Interesting, I never would have considered Mumford and Sons Americana, but I am no authority on the genre nor was I aware that they had even been nominated as an Americana album. Thankfully, best album is non-genre specific.

Actually, I only figured out I liked Americana when Amazon started recommending me Americana albums based on ones I had bought that I just bought because I liked the music.

As for the genre gaining exposure... even though there wasn't a formal Americana category, I feel that the successes of albums like the Plant & Krauss album a few years ago amongst others would do more for the genre than Mumford and Sons.

Pinning down an Americana genre isn't really easy, which I'm fine with. I like the fact that it blurs the genre lines between rock, country, and folk. Creativity is best when it respects no boundaries.

Yeah, people who buy Mumford & Sons records are going to buy Dave Matthews Band records or Coldplay records or the Lumineers or U2 or whatever. No one's going to buy Bonnie Raitt or John Fullbright's record because Mumford & Sons won album of the year.

There's a whole slew of pop music that's positioning itself as Americana, & it's far worse than it is good. Taylor Swift soaking up all of the country music exposure is not ultimately good for an artist like Jamey Johnson. That kind of homogenization--the appeal to the lowest common denominator--is terrible for the people who want authentic americana or country music. These acts aren't "gateway" artists, there's not enough (or any) authentic americana or country in them to actually segue into the authentic acts. This is the "countrypolitanization" of Americana. But it's not even that, because it's so far from Americana. It's just a bunch of people agreeing to call it Americana because they wear suspenders & play a banjo.

Drives me nuts.

Not directly specific when it's awarded but it's generally known from the performances during the awards show from what genre or sub-category an Album of the Year comes from. Americana is more tricky right now because it hasn't been around that long but people are getting more and more familiar with the category. Especially rap, soul, country and rock fans who say..."What!?!...who the hell are THEY?..my favorite artist lost to an Americana band?...that sucks." :)

Actually Plant & Krauss' Raising Sand DID do a lot for the genre. And there actually was a formal Grammy category in 2009 for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album and Raising Sand did win it as well as winning the Album of the Year. In 2010 they split that category up to make a distinction between the use of acoustic vs. electric instruments. Best Contemporary Folk Album reflects predominately acoustic instruments and Best Americana Album reflects predominately electric instruments. Even though acoustic instruments are often present and essential to Americana music it often uses full electric bands as well.

But now it's already been over four years since Raising Sand and most of us like me have moved ahead witnessing a great growth in popularity of this young genre. Mumford & Sons' Babel winning Grammy Album of the Year is just another great moment in it's short history. Some people may not like it because they have their own opinions of what they believe Americana music should be. But what people think it should be and what it actually IS are two different things.


It was effectively 'pinned down' in 1995. The whole idea of creating an Americana genre in the first place was to not continue to have blurred lines between the established mainstream genres but to incorporate those elements of American roots music (country, bluegrass, folk, rock ‘n’ roll, R & B and blues) into a distinctive roots-oriented sound. A sound that stands apart from the styles of music from which it draws. And by definition now that Americana music is a genre it does have to respect the boundaries that are true only to American roots music.

It's still yet to be explained to me how Mumford & Sons are "true to American roots music." The influences seem to be U2 (Irish), Dave Matthews (arguably South African), Coldplay (British), & Vineyard praise & worship (Australian/British).

It's pop songs, the influences are international. You just don't hear these epic crescendo arrangements (which is pretty much the only thing Mumford & Sons can do) in American roots music. I guess the 5-string banjo is an American innovation, but is that really enough to qualify?

I mean, at the end of the day, the Grammy awards are a democratic process, & the results are more an indictment of the voting pool than they say anything about the acts themselves, & I'm not trying to suggest that there's anything empirical about the nomination one way or the other, but I still feel like this should come across like Jethro Tull beating Metallica for best metal record to any real Americana fan.

I'm not trying to say what Americana is or should be, necessarily, only what it isn't.