Strange and Dangerous Times: New American Roots

The alt-country movement in the 90s was a reaction to the candyfloss of modern Nashville. It gave birth to a huge revival in roots music now commonly referred to as Americana. This compilation offers an intriguing insight into what we might call the alternative to the alternative. I had never heard of any of the 16 artists featured but there is a uniform excellence of energy and spirit. Punk, heavy-metal, rap and hardcore influences are added to bluegrass, country and old-time stylings performed. The back-porch punk of the likes of Phillip Roebuck and Reverend Deadeye achieve for American roots what Gogol Bordello have done for East European Gypsy music. Hillstomp's bluegrass reinventions perhaps have a parallel in the late Martyn Bennett's retooling of Celtic roots. Jayke Oivs & the Broken Band play trad hillbilly music at a breakneck tempo like a bunch of feral cowboy Gypsies on acid, while the work of James Hunnnicutt recalls the experimental remixes of the Lomax songbook undertaken by the likes of Tangle Eye and Snakefarm. Fascinating stuff, from first note to last.