Americana?? What does that even mean?
 

If there's a prior thread on the same topic, then I ask a moderator to merge it with this one.

Americana--what the hell does that even mean? It seems to encompaass musical genres that have little to do with one another, or a catch all for music that doesn't fall neatly into a category. I've heard everthing from third rate folk singers to folk acts that want to rock a little bit to esoteric country (example: Jonny Fritz) to acts that are straight forward rock and roll (example: Webb Wilder) referred to as "Americana". In Wilder's case, it's especially confounding--i guess if it's not pop or hip hop, we just call it Americana.

In any event, that's my rant. i would appreciate hearing from others on how you define "Americana", and some of your favorite artists who are tagged with that label.