SXSWORLD

Bands Young and Old Alike Riding Americana's New Wave by Luke Torn stirring comeback album, Electric Dirt. Or perhaps the musical mainstream's stunning embrace of Mumford and Sons, the sensational British folk/rock band that has been racking up airplay and awards galore in its brief but illustrious lifespan. But alt-country, insurgent country, country/rock, y'allternative, roots music, bluegrass, Americana, however you term it, is back with a vengeance. In fact, SXSW 2012 will present more Americana-oriented showcases, and more bands that defi ne themselves as Americana, than ever before. Not a half-dozen years ago, the energy and creativity that spurred the No Depression glory years of the '90s seemed to be fl agging. "Recalling the Twang Th at Was Alt-Country: A Genre Rides Into the Sunset," roared a 2006 headline in Th e New York Times, the writer noting some of the style's reluctant avatars' (e.g., Wilco, Neko Case, Ryan Adams) then-recent dalliances with experimental soundscapes, noir-ish pop and would-be arena rock. "Americana is everywhere, and it always has been," enthuses Logan Bosemer, who works with KCA Artists, a fi rm that represents an impressive roster of artists from relative youngsters Dan Tyminski and Elizabeth Cook, to veterans Guy Clark, Peter Rowan and Ralph Stanley. "Americana to me is music with roots, whether they be gospel roots, blues roots, bluegrass roots, folk roots or whatever. A lot of people call it alt-country, but it is so much more than that." Th e surprising success, in some quarters at least, of the latest batch of alt-country/Americana acts is just the latest of countless recurring waves of musicians serving as alchemists, mixing rural and urban, down-home and sophisticated, stretching back at least to Gram Parsons' groundbreaking music of the 1960s and 1970s, or perhaps further back into folk/rock, rockabilly and more. With young musicians turning to a more organic style of writing and playing, its sturdy foundation built on the work of pioneers, the music of American legends like the Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie is experiencing a renaissance like never before. "It's always been around," notes Keith Levy, a booking agent with M aybe it was the emergence of the Americana category at the Grammys in 2010, with Levon Helm taking home the honors for his Lera Lynn New Frontier Touring. "Hell, Dylan hasn't gone away, and keeps singing about our fi ne country ..." "I'd say [it's] less a resurgence than a redefi nition, or perhaps a realignment," observes Peter Blackstock, who rode the alt-country roller coaster from 1995 to 2008 as editor of alt-country bible No Depression. "In a way, the early '80s Jason & the Scorchers/Rank & File cowpunk stuff was a redefi ning of the early '70s Byrds/Parsons era fi ltered through a Ramones/Pistols punk perspective. In the mid '90s, there was the Uncle Tupelo/Jayhawks generation looking at it through the Replacements/R.E.M. college/alt-rock lens." 34 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH M USIC 2012 Trampled by Turtles Justin Townes Earle youth comes new ideas," observes Bosemer. "Artists are creative, obviously, and I see a lot of them take old sounds or styles and integrate new ideas into it, which essentially becomes a whole new sound. Americana artists tend to gravitate towards the pure, untouched, untarnished sound." "When you fi rst start out playing music, you tend to be all about wanting to create something new, something that's never been done before," says Blackstock. "But before long you start to realize the value in the stuff that HAS been done before, and the creative opportunities in applying those past elements to your own contemporary endeavors. It's like the traditional styles off er the artists a backbone upon which to fl esh out their own new ideas and explorations." And that seems to be what is taking hold in the public consciousness in ways that it didn't in the Uncle Tupelo or Rank & File eras. Th en again, there's the evolution of just pure talent and plenty of it among the new roots music stars. "What have evolved are the great songwriters and songs working within the constraints of this genre," observes Levy. "Like Justin Townes Earle or Hayes Carll, they could come along at any time in history and still be great troubadours. Would I call what they do 'Americana?' Well, sure. But really what it comes down to is the fact that we have new people coming on the scene and writing great songs. Great songs will live forever." ■ Nowadays you have this Mumford/Bon Iver crowd, who are viewing that same roots foundation through a prism of Radiohead/Bright Eyes indie-rock. So it's not so much a resurgence as it is that each generation was raised on a diff erent 'modern' wave of music, which subsequently gets re-infused with the traditional instrumentation and structures that stretch way back to the early days." "I think that music comes around full circle quite often, and with PIETER M. VAN HATTEM

• Cover