Americana - Classic or Dud?

http://www.citypaper.com/blogs/noise/bcp-with-its-awards-show-the-americana-music-association-embraces-blues-gospel-and-rb-20140922,0,3909868.story

Geoff Himes article:

To accurately represent roots music, you have to include country rock, string bands, and folkie singer-songwriters, but you also have to widen your umbrella to cover blues, R&B, and gospel as well. Though the organizers and audiences are still overwhelmingly white, they are making a good-faith effort to include African-American artists in the hope that African-American audiences and music buzzers will begin to feel welcome.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2014/09/24/351141281/roots-plugged-in

Ann Powers' take. No mention by her of the lack of African American artists

African Americana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enn0_EvFdms

the new Jake Xerxex Fussell album is so good, in fact all his albums are.

X post - just checked out that video with its lyrical reference to Americana!

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/americanafest-bristol-rhythm-roots-reunion-2022-re/

Geoff Himes asserts in this article:

And if it’s going to be an Americana song, it should be rooted in music older than your James Taylor and Roberta Flack records. I actually like Taylor and Flack, but they are not useful starting points for a musical tradition. Carlisle found his launching pad in the vein of the weird, wonderful blues and Celtic songs from the 1920s found on the Anthology of American Folk Music.

Eh, not sure of that.

Article covers many folks I don't know -- Willi Carlisle, Sunny War, Christina Vane, Queen Esther, Tiffany Williams, Bette Smith, John R Miller, Tami Neilson

dunno if we have an ongoing alt-country/country thread but thought this set was pretty good, especially that first song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4q9j-ZCo0

xpost Willi Carlisle's Peculiar, Missouri was one of the best albums of 2022. top shelf stuff.

during the 77 rollout i thought, "it'd be nice to have more country/Americana/folk stuff on here ... perhaps i should try to rally those threads / votes in 2023" and then i realized that'd be a lot of work for, likely, very little gain. this - i'm talking specifically about non-mainstream country/Americana/folk, etc. - is a corner of the music world that has grown and gotten *much* more popular over the past few years as a wave of new artists build on the work of Isbell, Stapleton, Sturgill, Childers and others. i talked to Melissa Carper recently and she confirmed they can feel the surge in popularity on the artists' side, too.

some good things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh7guH2W688
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CJyipxyf6s

Oh jeez, Isbell and Drive-By Truckers and The Mountain Goats and Richard Thompson are among several Americana circuit regulars who have long had their own threads, visited fairly often, ditto Bonnie Raitt, members of the Roche family, The Wainwrights, others who set the example along time ago and still do good work. We've talked about Carper, Sierra Ferrell, Brennon Leigh, SG Goodman, Allison Russell, Rosali, Leyla McCalla, Amanda Shires on several Rolling Countrys. Also see threads for Dave Alvin, The Blasters, Giant Sand / Howe Gelb P0X
and Giant Sand / Howe Gelb P0X

Meant to end with TS: Lone Justice or Cruzados or Drivin' & Cryin' or Green On Red or Del Fuegos or Jason & The Scorchers or Long Ryders or Bodeans?

dow, are you responding to me? i was speaking specifically about this kind of music's representation on ILM's 77 Top Albums of 2022 poll. not general representation on ILM.

Sorry, but also just a general news thing, since these threads aren't nec. updated/visible all that often.

Reminds me, Iris Dement thread was recently updated w news of her forthcoming album (& now newsletter announcing at least one advance single).