Americana (music)
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Americana is a loose subset of American roots music, that is perhaps best defined as "classic American music" — ranging in style from folk, country blues, bluegrass, alternative country, rockabilly, neotraditional and roots rock. Americana music is one of the focuses of the bi-monthly U.S. magazine No Depression.
In the early 1970s Larry Yurdin tried out an early form of what is now known as "Americana," focusing mainly on Texas musicians. His experiments were on KPFT(Pacifica radio) in Houston and KRMA in Austin, and he was thrown out of town both times for irreverence. Jeremy Lansman and Lorenzo Milam, two free-form radicals, sold KDNA in St. Louis and bought the lowest-rated station in CA, KSND in Gilroy, brought in Yurdin and his crew of Texans, and went on the air in 1975 as KFAT. This crew lasted a few months and left, and Jeremy's girlfriend, Laura Ellen Hopper became General Manager and began to create the expanded playlist that she called "Progressive Country" and is now known as Americana. KFAT played traditional country, outlaw country, western swing, comedy, Hawaiian, bluegrass, gospel, rock, rockabilly, zydeco, and etc. There is a book about KFAT in production. See www.fatchance.org.
KFAT went silent in 1983, and Ms. Hopper founded KPIG radio, perhaps America's flagship Americana station.
In recent years, the genre can be seen as being typified by artists such as The Be Good Tanyas, Dave Alvin, The Band, Susan Cowsill, The Creekdippers, the Derailers, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Rosie Flores, Emmylou Harris, The Jayhawks, Jim Lauderdale, Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy), Otis Johnson Band, Tom Russell, Michelle Shocked, Hayshaker, Bobby Bare, Jay Farrar, The Cedars, The Greencards, Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Victoria Williams, Neil Young, Martin Zellar, Kathleen Edwards, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Limbeck each of whom incorporate themes of cultural Americana in their songwriting (although it should be noted that not all of these bands are from the United States - e.g. Neil Young and Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson, founding members of "The Band", are all Canadian).
Americana music is more likely to be played on Triple-A, Internet radio or noncommercial college radio stations than on commercial country radio.
More and more people are tuning into alternative country, roots and folk, which all fit into Americana. In addition to the above mentioned artists there are many more newer and older artists who can be classified as Americana: John Prine, Todd Snider, Robert Earl Keen, Jeff Finlin, Telegraph Canyon, Shelby Lynne, Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell, Hayes Carll, Mando Saenz, Adam Caroll, Sara Petite, Graham Weber, Wrinkle Neck Mules, Marty Stuart, Kris Kristofferson, Jim Lauderdale, Sunny Sweeney, Carrie Rodriguez, Eve Selis, John Stewart, Loretta Lynn, Iris Dement, Jim White, Gillian Welch, Mary Gauthier, Tom Fallon, Darrell Scott and more.
[edit] Gothic Americana
Today a growing collective of musicians from across the country are taking a darker, more rustic approach to the genre, creating a subculture commonly referred to as "Gothic-Americana". Many credit this style's origins to the artists that came from the Denver scene in the mid to late '90s, such as the Denver Gentlemen and Sixteen Horsepower. Today's gothic americana musicians blend traditional folk, gypsy, blues, bluegrass, and country with a much darker side, focused on songs of tragedy and murder. Pushed along by bands such as Slim Cessna's Auto Club and Jay Munly, Strawfoot, Gravemist, Reverend Glasseye, Curtis Eller, the Monads, Creech Holler, William Elliott Whitmore, The Bad Faith Compromise and many others, fans are growing in large numbers around the world, breathing new life into the Americana sound.
