You Must Hear 7

alt-country

Last updated: Mon Nov 03 2025 18:08:25 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Description

Alt-country, also known as alternative country or insurgent country, is a subgenre of country music that emerged in the 1990s as a reaction to the commercialization of mainstream country music. Alt-country artists combine elements of traditional country music with rock, folk, punk, and other genres, often with a darker, more introspective or subversive edge. The term "alt-country" has been applied to a wide range of artists and styles, from the raw, punk-influenced sound of Uncle Tupelo to the more polished and diverse sounds of Wilco and Ryan Adams. Other notable alt-country artists include Neko Case, Lucinda Williams, and Steve Earle.

100 chronological releases

Place	Cover	Date	Artist	Album	Tags	Other places
71		1973	John Denver	John Denver's Greatest Hits	alt-country soft rock	soft rock # 23
43		1986-03-05	Steve Earle	Guitar Town	alt-country	country rock # 36
29		1987	Lyle Lovett	Pontiac	alt-country americana	texas # 54
67		1988	Steve Earle	Copperhead Road	alt-country country rock	country rock # 68
79		1988	Cowboy Junkies	The Trinity Sessions	alt-country
78		1988-11-15	Cowboy Junkies	The Trinity Session	alt-country
19		1990	Uncle Tupelo	No Depression	alt-country
20		1992-08-03	Uncle Tupelo	March 16-20, 1992
7		1992-09-28	The Jayhawks	Hollywood Town Hall	alt-country americana
52		1993-05	Uncle Tupelo	Anodyne	alt-country
14		1994-08	Palace Brothers	Days in the Wake	alt-country
63		1995	16 Horsepower	Sackcloth 'N' Ashes	alt-country americana	alternative country # 18 gothic country # 88
56		1995-02-14	The Jayhawks	Tomorrow The Green Grass	alt-country americana
66		1995-03-28	Wilco	A.M.	alt-country
42		1995-08-08	Luna	Penthouse	alt-country indie rock
47		1995-09-19	Son Volt	Trace	alt-country
65		1995-09-26	Emmylou Harris	Wrecking Ball	alt-country country female vocalists americana
89		1995-10-16	Mojave 3	Ask Me Tomorrow	dream pop folk alt-country	folk # 8 dream pop # 41 slowcore # 54
1		1996-02-27	Cowboy Junkies	Lay It Down	alt-country
16		1996-04-09	Gillian Welch	Revival	americana alt-country	americana # 64
31		1996-05-21	Patty Griffin	Living With Ghosts	alt-country singer-songwriter female vocalists
64		1996-07-15	16 Horsepower	Sackcloth -N- Ashes	alt-country americana	alternative country # 19 gothic country # 89
4		1996-09-10	Cat Power	What Would the Community Think	alternative indie rock alternative rock indie pop pop rock	freak folk # 67 sadcore # 93 new weird america # 94
82		1996-10-01	Silver Jews	The Natural Bridge	alt-country indie rock	slacker rock # 70
58		1996-10-29	Wilco	Being There	alt-country
11		1997-06-17	Old 97's	Too Far To Care	alt-country americana
59		1998-06-22	Billy Bragg & Wilco	Mermaid Avenue	alt-country
77		1998-06-30	Lucinda Williams	Car Wheels On A Gravel Road	alt-country
95		1998-10-20	Silver Jews	American Water	alt-country americana indie rock slacker rock	americana # 89 slacker rock # 91
38		1999	Madrugada	Industrial Silence	alt-country blues
44		1999-03-09	Wilco	Summerteeth	indie rock alternative rock	alternative country # 72
37		2000	Josh Ritter	Golden Age Of Radio	alt-country folk folk rock
55		2000	Whiskeytown	Pneumonia	alt-country
62		2000-02-08	Lambchop	Nixon	alt-country americana	americana # 6
50		2000-04-13	16 Horsepower	Secret South	alt-country americana	gothic country # 15
92		2000-09-05	Ryan Adams	Heartbreaker	alt-country americana	americana # 74
94		2001-02-05	Ryan Adams	Gold	alt-country
28		2001-03-20	Old 97's	Satellite Rides	alt-country americana	americana # 25 throwaway grrls # 26
68		2001-04-05	My Morning Jacket	At Dawn	alt-country
23		2001-05-07	M. Ward	End of Amnesia	alt-country singer-songwriter
30		2001-06-05	Lucinda Williams	Essence	alt-country country americana
35		2002-02-19	Lambchop	Is A Woman	alt-country
5		2002-03-25	Woven Hand	Woven Hand	alt-country
26		2002-04-09	Patty Griffin	1000 Kisses	acoustic alt-country singer-songwriter americana female vocalists
100		2002-04-22	Wilco	Yankee Hotel Foxtrot	alt-country indie rock
85		2002-08-20	Neko Case	Blacklisted	alt-country
76		2002-09-23	Ryan Adams	Demolition	alt-country	roots rock # 77
6		2002-09-24	Rhett Miller	The Instigator	acoustic alt-country folk americana	throwaway grrls # 63
12		2003	Mindy Smith	One Moment More	alt-country
98		2003	Ryan Adams	Love Is Hell Part 1	alt-country
69		2003-03-04	Songs: Ohia	The Magnolia Electric Co.	alt-country	country rock # 43
75		2003-06-03	Gillian Welch	Soul Journey	alt-country
87		2003-10-06	The Handsome Family	Singing Bones	alt-country folk noir americana	americana # 57 folk noir # 100
88		2003-11-04	Ryan Adams	Love Is Hell	alt-country
45		2004-02-24	Old Crow Medicine Show	O.C.M.S.	bluegrass	americana # 18 banjo # 56 bluegrass # 98
53		2004-08-17	Rilo Kiley	More Adventurous (U.S. Release)	alt-country chamber pop folk pop indie pop indie rock power pop	power pop # 33 chamber pop # 55 folk pop # 68
54		2004-08-24	Drive-By Truckers	The Dirty South	alt-country southern rock	southern rock # 63
17		2004-09-20	Woven Hand	Consider the Birds	alt-country	gothic country # 47
34		2005-03-01	Kathleen Edwards	Back To Me	alt-country
61		2005-09-23	Ryan Adams & The Cardinals	Jacksonville City Nights	alt-country rock singer-songwriter
40		2006	Jenny Lewis	Rabbit Fur Coat	alt-country female vocalists singer-songwriter
74		2006-01-23	Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins	Rabbit Fur Coat	alt-country female vocalists indie pop
9		2006-02-02	DeYarmond Edison	Silent Signs	alt-country folk
91		2006-03-07	Neko Case	Fox Confessor Brings the Flood	alt-country
27		2006-03-21	Band of Horses	Everything All the Time	indie rock	indie rock # 48
24		2006-10-09	The Be Good Tanyas	Hello Love	alt-country folk
22		2007	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy	I See a Darkness	folk singer-songwriter	americana # 21 freak folk # 42 chamber folk # 56 sadcore # 74 alternative country # 79 folk noir # 94 alternative folk # 94
86		2007	The Avett Brothers	Introducing Emotionalism	alt-country	bluegrass # 14
36		2007-02-13	Lucinda Williams	West	alt-country country singer-songwriter
84		2007-05-15	The Avett Brothers	Emotionalism	alt-country bluegrass folk	bluegrass # 93
10		2007-07-10	Jason Isbell	Sirens Of The Ditch	alt-country
3		2007-09-25	Steve Earle	Washington Square Serenade	alt-country country
39		2007-10-02	Ryan Bingham	Mescalito	alt-country
90		2007-10-09	Band of Horses	Cease to Begin	indie rock	indie rock # 25
25		2008	J. Tillman	Cancer And Delirium	acoustic folk alt-country alternative alternative folk folk rock indie folk lo-fi singer-songwriter americana blues chamber folk country folk noir freak folk indie pop indie rock slowcore	freak folk # 64 alternative country # 66 chamber folk # 70 sadcore # 71 alternative folk # 98 folk noir # 99
18		2008-03-04	Kathleen Edwards	Asking For Flowers	alt-country country female vocalists singer-songwriter
80		2009-02-28	Neko Case	Middle Cyclone	alt-country
21		2009-03-03	Justin Townes Earle	Midnight at the Movies	alt-country americana	americana # 20
99		2009-09-15	The Avett Brothers	I and Love and You	alt-country folk rock	folk rock # 55
57		2010-06-08	Deer Tick	The Black Dirt Sessions	alt-country americana	americana # 59
13		2010-07-06	Blake Mills	Break Mirrors	alt-country
51		2010-09-13	Justin Townes Earle	Harlem River Blues	alt-country americana	americana # 53
2		2011-02-08	Jessica Lea Mayfield	Tell Me	alt-country rock alternative singer-songwriter
83		2011-09-11	Ryan Adams	Ashes & Fire	alt-country rock alternative americana	americana # 62
8		2011-09-12	Chuck Ragan	Covering Ground	alt-country
60		2012-04-09	M. Ward	A Wasteland Companion	alt-country rock	alternative country # 68
72		2015-10-05	16 Horsepower	Sackcloth N Ashes	alt-country americana	alternative country # 25 gothic country # 91
73		2017	Justin Townes Earle	Maybe A Moment / Graceland	alt-country americana folk rock nashville singer-songwriter	folk rock # 34 americana # 75 nashville # 100
93		2017-05-19	Alex G	Rocket	alt-country americana indie folk indie rock psychedelic folk	indie folk # 45 americana # 86 psychedelic folk # 98
97		2017-10-27	Slaughter Beach, Dog	Birdie		indie folk # 55
48		2018-03-06	Neko Case	Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Bonus Track Version)	alt-country americana chamber folk singer-songwriter	americana # 49 chamber folk # 88
49		2018-09-28	Pinegrove	Skylight	rock alt-country	midwest emo # 27
96		2019-03-22	Orville Peck	Pony	alt-country americana country gothic country singer-songwriter	singer-songwriter # 31 country # 65 americana # 90 gothic country # 99
81		2019-07-12	Purple Mountains	Purple Mountains	alt-country indie rock singer-songwriter
15		2020-04-24	Caroline	Dark blue	alt-country emo midwest emo post-rock	midwest emo # 47
32		2021-04	Slaughter Beach, Dog	At The Moonbase		art rock # 2
70		2022-02-11	Big Thief	Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You	indie folk folk rock	americana # 12 folk rock # 49 indie folk # 70
41		2022-04-29	MJ Lenderman	Boat Songs	alt-country
33		2022-09-23	Alex G	God Save the Animals	indie folk indie rock	indietronica # 13 americana # 27 indie folk # 56
46		2024-09-06	MJ Lenderman	Manning Fireworks	alt-country

Related genres

• americana
• folk
• singer-songwriter
• country
• rock
• indie rock
• alternative
• folk rock
• acoustic
• indie folk