Whatever “alternative country” music is, you’ll find just about everything about it through 1999 in this comprehensive book. David Goodman, as a fan of the music and a scholar of American Studies, has compiled what amounts to a one-volume encyclopedia of alternative country music.
A daunting task it must have been, because the subject is so big and so ill-defined. An even cursory glance inside the book is instructive. You can open it pretty much at random to any two-page spread and see the wide musical and cultural territory covered by the alt-country banner. One such spread covers the New England new old-time/techno band the Horseflies and the Austin neo-Western Swing outfit Hot Club of Cowtown. Another finds former Bleeker Street folkie turned cowboy troubador Ian Tyson facing Uncle Tupelo, the country/punk band that spawned the whole No Depression movement. Or there’s Roger McGuinn rubbing shoulders with the Meat Puppets. Progressive bluegrass queen Alison Krauss trading licks with The Knitters, the country/folk alter-ego of the L.A. punk band X.
You get the idea. That’s what makes alternative country, and a book like this, so fascinating.
The main part of the book consists of an alphabetical listing of artists. Goodman does his best to categorize each act from a list of about two dozen terms, such as singer-songwriter, low-fi country, cowpunk, insurgent country, new old-time, etc. He follows with a biography and a fairly comprehensive discography. No attempt is made to rate the recordings, although Goodman does express his opinions in many cases.
Goodman’s copy cries out for more careful proof-reading and editing than it received. The misspellings, misuse of commas and other minor points of grammar, syntax and usage at times add up to a major distraction.
Each listing also includes a list of websites devoted to the artists, along with email and snail-mail addresses. A note of caution on website addresses: a lot has changed since 1999. Then, the only web presence many of these performers had consisted of fan sites; now nearly every act has its own domain name. So try the URLs Goodman gives, but if they don’t work, try artistname.com, or try your favorite search engine.
In addition to the artist entries, Modern Twang has sections listing alternative country resources on the internet, internet mailing lists, alt-country venues and radio stations around the world that play this kind of music.
Alternative country grew so fast in so many places throughout the 1990s that it was hard to keep score. Modern Twang takes on the big job of compiling and organizing it all, and succeeds admirably. From Acetone to the Zeftrons, Hayseed to Neil Young, this is a treasure of a reference book for the alt-country fan.
(Dowling, 1999)
