I'm writing a book on Amercana guitar styles at the moment; the publisher is great and has left me to my own devices but the question is what does this style mean to you? Although the term itself was only really coined in the 1980s I'm taking a long chronological approach starting with the birth of Country music and moving towards modern day via everyone from Springsteen and Dylan to all the more niche folk/blues acts like Elizabeth Cotten, Woody Guthrie etc. There are obvious titans like Steve Earle and Wilco for the modern day but literally hundreds more that deserve a mention/musical example. Four chapters in and the magnitude of the task has taken hold...part of the problem is it fuses so many styles from Bill Monroe Bluegrass all the way to Cajun and beyond.
Any names that you'd be furious to see omitted from getting a mention?
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The following sound a range of “modern” Americana
Looking at the kind of vibe that Molly Tuttle has on her recentish album, not the normal flatpicking stuff.
Steve Tyler’s album about 4 years back “We’re All Somebody from Somewhere”
and Ray Davies “America” itself from a couple years back.
they all seem to have their roots in blues, and then morphed outwards using country, southern rock influences, and even pop.
So I do think Americana is “new” or “recent”, even if its roots are old
Not suggesting that any of them fall into the furious for not being mentioned camp, they just happen to be in my playlists.
To me when people asked us what was Americana when we were trying to get them to come to gigs, it was something like “light blues rock, with a more country guitar and a female singer”
Good luck - look forward to reading in due course
(I also have a soft spot for the Milk Carton KIds)
But I’m sure they’re in your book already.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
Uncut magazine did a compilation series called Sounds of the New West a few years ago, maybe check out the track lists on some of those for inspiration.
Right, back to work!
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Tom Russell?
Uncle Tupelo
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay