Alt-country | Musicosity

Alt-country

Joel Plaskett

Joel Plaskett is a Canadian rock musician who has been a longtime favourite on campus radio charts throughout the country. He was a member of the Halifax based alternative rock band Thrush Hermit from its founding in 1992 until its breakup in late 1999. Joel was the lead singer and guitar player for the group. He was also the band's primary songwriter. After the breakup of Thrush Hermit, Plaskett embarked on a solo career.

Artist Type: 

Kurt Wagner & Cortney Tidwell present KORT

While Kurt Wagner’s role as bandleader in seminal soul/country/folk collective Lambchop sees him deal in multiple shades of deep-orange warmth, Cortney Tidwell’s solo career is often shaded by a kind of icy detachment; an engaging, beautiful coldness. At first glance they might not seem the most natural fit for an album of country takes from the 60s and 70s, but look a little deeper and Invariable Heartache makes perfect sense.

Artist Type: 

Teddy Thompson

Teddy Thompson was born in London, England in 1976 and is the son of Linda Thompson and Richard Thompson (Richard & Linda Thompson), and the brother of singer Kamila Thompson. Teddy's style is difficult to categorize, because his influences are varied. Growing up around folk music, he listened to a musical gamut that covered Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke and gospel. As he fell in with other musical progeny, most notably close friend Rufus Wainwright, his sound developed into his own combination of country/western, rock, and his father's folk-rock.

Michelle Shocked

Michelle Shocked is a traveller, a troubadour, a 'picker-poet', as they say in Texas. As a young feminist, she left Texas to travel, Kerouac-style, and was caught up in Reagan-era grassroots politics. Her musical career was ignited by a bootleg recording made around a Kerrville Folk Festival campfire on a Sony walkman. Released in England as ‘The Texas Campfire Tapes’ without Shocked’s authority, its success abroad enticed Mercury Records to offer the newcomer a recording contract.

Artist Type: 

River City Extension

Music is an art form that is meant to speak to us beyond the literal. After spending years perfecting his craft, Singer/songwriter, Joseph Michelini decided to take his music to the next plane. Cutting his teeth in coffee houses in Toms River, NJ, Joseph began to introduce different elements, from acoustic bass, to banjo and cello. At that point, River City Extension was born; having the intention of writing orchestral indie rock, while introducing elements of Punk, Country, Folk, and World music.

Artist Type: 

David Dondero

David Dondero is a singer/songwriter whose music has been compared to such American folk music/troubadour greats as Woody Guthrie and Townes Van Zandt. He began in 1993 as a member of the band Sunbrain, and later played in This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb and The Flatwheelers. He is currently on the Team Love Records label and has toured with such acts as Bright Eyes, Tilly and the Wall, Spoon, and Willy Mason.

Artist Type: 

Okkervil River

Okkervil River is an indie/folk rock band from Austin, Texas USA. Formed in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya. The band currently consists of Will Sheff (vocals, guitar), Justin Shurburn (guitar, keyboards), Lauren Gurgiolo (guitar, pedal steel, mandolin), Scott Brackett (keyboards, trumpet, percussion), Patrick Pestorius (bass, keyboards) and Travis Nelsen (drums).

Artist Type: 

Kasey Chambers

Kasey Chambers, born June 4, 1976 in Mount Gambier, Australia is Australia's most popular country music performer with three successive albums reaching #1 on the Australian album charts in 2002, 2004 and 2006, each achieving multi-platinum sales. Kasey's signature tune "Not Pretty Enough" hit #1 on the ARIA singles charts in 2002, where it remained at the top spot for 4 weeks. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Artist Type: 

This Frontier Needs Heroes

This Frontier Needs Heroes is the American Folk duo of brother-sister Brad and Jessica Lauretti. Listening to This Frontier Needs Heroes is like having Brad and Jessica play in your backyard while the sun comes up. They play intimate, striped down songs full of honest personal stories of love, loss and longing for a better world. Both poetic and rowdy, Brad and Jessica will make you laugh and cry with their raw powerful delivery and delicate harmonies.