Slowly Going Bald

Because I like sharing music that I love, and being introduced to new music by my friends; because I crave your validation; and because it's a lot easier than coming up with more original content, it's time once again for an alt-country playlist from yours truly. This compilation, to the best of my recollection, came together in the summer of 2006; I remember playing the track list for a friend on my iPod while driving through the mountains of northern Arizona on the way home from the Grand Canyon last year. That means the list came together about a year after the creation of the previous one, which I guess is a good enough time to spread out a little, incorporate some new bands, and also shine some light on old favorites (the attentive among you will notice a near constant presence of Old 97's on these lists; that's the way it's gonna be). It's a slightly longer list than the others, coming in at 22 songs but still short enough to fit on a standard 80-minute CD. I think a big part of this is that this is the first mix I made after purchasing my iPod, so the ease of bouncing around from track to track within a digital playlist instead of listening to a CD from beginning to end seems to have influenced the assembly of the songs; in other words, it feels more like a jukebox of tunes instead of a somewhat more cohesive attempt to make a good alt-country mix. As a result, it's probably the weakest mix as far as overall flow, but it's a solid collection of hits, and I couldn't bring myself to trim any. Sue me. As always, I've provided iTunes links where possible; as always, feel free to share any music you think I might like or just post a comment to shower me with sincere praise. In retrospect, I realize these mixes have been getting (to me) slightly less accomplished with each iteration, but I have some other stuff in the works that I think you all might enjoy. Like I said, I need the validation. Anyway, here it is:

Alt 4.0
1. "Won't Be Home," Old 97's — A great, fuzzy opening from the group's Drag It Up. Solid driving song.

2. "Another Travelin' Song," Bright Eyes — I like Bright Eyes. Tough.

3. "That's Not the Issue," Wilco — Man, sometimes I forget Wilco used to rip out these amazing little country tracks. It's enough to make me really miss old-school Golden Smog (which is coming later down the list).

4. "My Winding Wheel," Ryan Adams — Wonderful, easy song.

5. "The Charging Sky," Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins — I couldn't take this album out of my stereo for a couple weeks after I got it. I keep hoping I'll run into Jenny Lewis out here, though the odds that she shops at my Ralphs are pretty slim.

6. "Still Feeling Blue," Kasey Chambers — This is one of my favorite Gram Parsons songs, and I love Chambers' cover. It's a good reminder of how country is often built on songs that get passed around and recorded by multiple artists, like the blues.

7. "Streets of Where I'm From," Old 97's — Solid, yearning bar rock.

8. "A Kiss Before I Go," Ryan Adams & the Cardinals — In and out in just a couple minutes, and fantastic along the way.

9. "Sin City," Uncle Tupelo — Speaking of great covers, here's another Parsons track from his days with the Flying Burrito Brothers. Love it.

10. "You Are What You Love," Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins — A kind of shimmery pop-country that's downright heartbreaking.

11. "Live Free," Son Volt — Trace is still the best album you haven't bought yet. So go buy it.

12. "If I Had a Boat," Lyle Lovett — Why did I not get into Lyle Lovett until the past couple years? I'm a moron.

13. "Making Love With You," Old 97's — A fantastic track from Down to the Promised Land, a comp from Bloodshot Records' fifth anniversary. The double-disc set isn't too bad, but it's worth buying just for this song.

14. "What a Crying Shame," The Mavericks — I love this album. It's straight-ahead country from 1994, featuring mainstream two-steps and some Latin influences. Wonderful song.

15. "Roses Are Blooming," The Hollisters — I sing this in the shower a lot. I don't know why.

16. "Hung Up on You," Fountains of Wayne — I've liked Fountains of Wayne since their debut in 1996; I have many good memories of playing Quake III late at night at a friend's house while listening to "Leave the Biker" (yeah). They play brilliant power-pop, and every now and then they fiddle around with some country tunes, and the result is usually pretty great. Case in point: This track, which features pedal steel from Robert Randolph.

17. "Let It Ride," Ryan Adams & the Cardinals — Arguably the best single from Cold Roses.

18. "Crazy Arms," BR5-49 — Writing all this has made me realize just how many covers are on this mix, including this song, which has been recorded by just about everybody. This is a great treatment by BR5-49; if I were going to start a retro-country band, it would be a little like BR5-49. We would play in Oplin, and we would blow you away.

19. "Today's Teardrops," Fountains of Wayne — The last cover of the bunch: A Ricky Nelson song covered by Fountains of Wayne in concert and released on their B-sides collection Out-of-State Plates. Also a good shower song.

20. "Passionate Kisses," Lucinda Williams — It would later be covered by Mary Chapin Carpenter, who had a pretty big hit with it, but Lucinda's original remains amazing. However, iTunes only seems to have this live version. Deal.

21. "Please Tell My Brother," Golden Smog — Someone please play this at my funeral.

22. "Maria's Bed," Bruce Springsteen — For Devils & Dust, the Boss just went acoustic and changed all the references to Jenny/Elizabeth to Maria, but it totally worked. This was a great collection of Southwestern alt-country, and his best conceptish album since The Ghost of Tom Joad.

I'm not sure why Too Far to Care isn't on iTunes. I think you should all write letters to Steve Jobs asking that he put it on there, and also that he send me an iPhone. Thanks.

And, what the hell, here's a music video for track 10: