Alt.
Country is one of those genres that has so loose a definition that
it's hard to really pin-point what, if anything, makes a country band
“alternative”. It's used to describe loud, punky bands with a
country twang to them and quieter more introspective folk-rock bands
simultaneously. I've often thought that the term, born about the same
time as alternative rock, was just lazy band wagon jumping on behalf
of record labels to re-market country rock and in some cases the less
serious sounding genre of Cow-Punk. But despite my internal debate
over genre definitions, over the years alternative country has
produced some of my favourite music.
Lincoln
Nebraska's Lullaby For The Working Class were one of the more
interesting bands of this genre to appear in the mid 1990's. Whilst
they released three strong, clever albums of rootsy, acoustic rock,
it was their single “Hypnotist (Song For Daniel H.)” that has
earned itself a place on my list of favourite tracks. “Hypnotist”
is the rare song that is clever, emotionally honest, meaningful and
devastatingly catchy all at the same time.
