Cheezeball.net's "Cheezeball 16 (or Explaining alt-country in 16 LP's)"

Our first idea was to pick our favorite sixteen alt.country albums, and call it a day. We were soon questioning the merits of endorsing an entirely idiosyncratic collection, however, and thus decided to shift our focus from our "favorite" albums to the "best" sixteen alt.country record ever made (in our ever-so-humble estimation). Equally idiosyncratic, perhaps, but we soon had a list. To our ultimate dismay, however, the list contained but eight artists, and most of the sixteen albums were released in the mid-1990s. Perhaps a list of the "best" alt.country albums, we realized, was not the best way to construct a generic primer.

Finally, we decided that the most productive way to give a snapshot of the genre would be to select strong albums (consensus "best" or "near-best") from a wide variety of alt.country-ish artists (fifteen in all) and to attempt to distribute the selections evenly over the sixteen year period from 1990 to 2005.

Our attempts at uniform chronological distribution were not entirely successful, for in the end, we favored the music over the release dates. Nevertheless, we have compiled a list of albums spanning from 1990 to 2004 that we feel would make an excellent listening guide for anyone wishing to work their way through the alt.country genre in sixteen discs.

So, without further ado, our Near-Perfect Boxed Set:

(found at: http://www.cheezeball.net/Features/TheCheezeball16.htm)

Send to Printer Cheezeball.net's "Cheezeball 16 (or Explaining alt-country in 16 LP's)" Our first idea was to pick our favorite sixteen alt.country albums, and call it a day. We were soon questioning the merits of endorsing an entirely idiosyncratic collection, however, and thus decided to shift our focus from our "favorite" albums to the "best" sixteen alt.country record ever made (in our ever-so-humble estimation). Equally idiosyncratic, perhaps, but we soon had a list. To our ultimate dismay, however, the list contained but eight artists, and most of the sixteen albums were released in the mid-1990s. Perhaps a list of the "best" alt.country albums, we realized, was not the best way to construct a generic primer. Finally, we decided that the most productive way to give a snapshot of the genre would be to select strong albums (consensus "best" or "near-best") from a wide variety of alt.country-ish artists (fifteen in all) and to attempt to distribute the selections evenly over the sixteen year period from 1990 to 2005. Our attempts at uniform chronological distribution were not entirely successful, for in the end, we favored the music over the release dates. Nevertheless, we have compiled a list of albums spanning from 1990 to 2004 that we feel would make an excellent listening guide for anyone wishing to work their way through the alt.country genre in sixteen discs. So, without further ado, our Near-Perfect Boxed Set: (found at: http://www.cheezeball.net/Features/TheCheezeball16.htm)
	1.	No Depression by Uncle Tupelo
	2.	Hollywood Town Hall by Jayhawks
	3.	Anodyne by Uncle Tupelo
	4.	Trace by Son Volt
	5.	The Brooklyn Side by Bottle Rockets
	7.	Being There by Wilco
	8.	Faithless Street by Whiskeytown
	9.	Home Grown by Blue Mountain
	10.	Too Far to Care by Old 97's
	11.	El Corazón by Steve Earle
	12.	Since by Richard Buckner
	13.	Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams
	14.	Pizza Deliverance by Drive-By Truckers
	15.	Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams
	16.	Failer by Kathleen Edwards
	17.	Post to Wire by Richmond Fontaine
This is a community list. You can contribute, edit, or help maintain it by adding it to your lists. Created by Greg on Apr 28, 2006.