Rough Guide to Americana

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 10, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: World Music Network
• ASIN: B00005KIZ7
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #273,229 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Weightless Again - The Handsome Family

2. Pardon Me (I've Got Someone To Kill) - Andre Williams & The Sadies

3. Guided By Wire - Neko Case & Her Boyfriends

4. Meat Off The Bone - Gourds

5. Lost Highway - Townes Van Zandt

6. Ft. Worth, Texas - Johnny Dowd

7. A Song For You - Hazeldine

8. You Don't Know What's Right, You Don't Know What's Wrong - Long Ryders

9. Run With The Ponies - The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers

10. Hello To Everyone - Waco Brothers

11. Railroad Bill - Dave Alvin

12. Oh My Good Ol' Gal - Oh Susanna

13. Me And Queen Sylvia - Neal Casal

14. Standing On A Snake - Noahjohn

15. Kiss Of Death - Split Lip Rayfield

16. My Fear - Utah Carol

17. So That I Don't Miss You - Nadine

18. E-Z Ridin' Cowboy - Cowboy Nation

19. She Ran Me Down - The Arlenes

20. Carousel Days - Western Electric

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to less-well-known Alt-Country, June 6, 2004

By 

D. Allison (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rough Guide to Americana (Audio CD)

This album is not meant to be a comprehensive survey of alt-country, and the songs are mostly by relatively obscure bands - Neko Case being about the only exception. Nevertheless, I found this album to be not only a great pleasure to listen to but also a great introduction to some "unknown" but very talented artists.

I have bought CDs from several of the artists with songs on the Americana album, including Utah Carol, Neal Casal, The Gourds, and almost all of the Handsome Family CDs. The Americana CD was also how I found out about the more mainstream Jayhawks (mentioned in the liner notes), as well as the definitely not mainstream but wonderfully quirky Victoria Williams (Victoria and Mark Olson, formerly of the Jayhawks, have a song on Americana, and I now own almost all of Victoria's albums).

For the musically adventurous, I highly recommend this CD.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My intro to 7 amazing artists (plus other great songs), April 28, 2004

By 

Molly's 20-Word Reviews "short & sweet" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rough Guide to Americana (Audio CD)

Our friend Judson came out from San Francisco to visit us in Colorado before moving to Louisville for the summer. He brought us a fistful of CDs he'd burned from his extensive folk/bluegrass/Americana collection. They were all worth listening to... but this one changed the face of our music collection.

From the sonorous drone of "Weightless Again," the Handsome Family's intro track, to the heartbreaking honesty of Noahjohn's "Standing on a Snake," to the banjo-thumpin' goodtime riffs of Split Lip Rayfield's "Kiss of Death," this album provided an entree into the underdiscovered underbelly of an indescribable subcategory of American music.

Sure, it may not be "Americana" for the purist... there's nary a paean to river baptism or cabins in the piney woods, and there are even a few naughty words and suicide references. But if you're interested in the direction that music can take when you combine true-blue American styles like country twang, bluegrass banjo, punk rock and steely blues, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Oh yeah... the 7 artists whose work we've gone on to collect voraciously are Handsome Family, Neal Casal, Noahjohn, Split Lip Rayfield, Utah Carol, Neko Case and Townes Van Zandt. In case you were wondering. And as we always do when this impressed by a record, we went out and legitimately purchased it.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good. Not great, but good., February 18, 2002

By 

Richard R. Johnson "r-squared" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rough Guide to Americana (Audio CD)

The World Music Network has released a broad range of "Rough Guides" to certain musical genres, from Cumbia to Flamenco to Klezmer. Most are fantastic compilations. This installment features music that can be described as alternative country, insurgent country, or no depression. The name "Americana" is tricky. I consider Americana music to be American cultural music, or music clearly influenced by American cultural music. This can mean anything from jazz to bluegrass to zydeco. However, many folks define Americana as a specific genre, as is the case here. Rather than debate the point, I'll just let it be. Many of the usual suspects that one would expect on such a compilation, such as Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, and Whiskeytown, are bypassed in favor of lesser-known performers. The tracks are almost all good, though there are few true stand-outs.

For the uninitiated, I would recommend Exposed Roots: The Best of Alt. Country, Uncle Tupelo's "No Depression," Son Volt's "Trance," and Whiskeytown's "Strangers Almanac." However, for those interested in delving deeper, this compilation will provide an entry point for exploring many under-exposed but worthy artists.