Alt Country Women

Loretta Lynn might not leap to the forefront of anyone’s outline of alt-country, but when the White Stripes’ Jack White decided to produce, everyone rethought her situation, and rightly so. The boundaries of alt-country aren’t even contained by one nation: k.d. lang and Kathleen Edwards are Canadian, and Kasey Chambers is an Aussie.

Maria McKee was at the forefront of alt-country back in the ’80s, when she fronted Lone Justice, so it’s little wonder that her solo career has continued on an adjacent path. Freakwater (another term for moonshine) recalls country’s back-porch era; Lucinda Williams crackles with modern barroom passions on tracks like “Righteously.”

Gillian Welch shows that she knows her way round the plaintive ballad blindfolded, with the gorgeous “In Tall Buildings,” from A Tribute to John Hartford: authenticity (or a simulacrum of same) is one of alt-country’s hallmarks. The Walkabouts, fronted by Carla Torgerson, journey far from their punk origins with the stunning “Man from Reno.”

Just as alt-rock arose in response (some would say in opposition) to power chords and spandex, so the women of alt-country arose in response to power hair (any hairstyle that requires architecture or chemistry to maintain its shape) and, indeed, spandex. Sometimes turning to the Carter Family for inspiration, sometimes to George Jones, sometimes to Wanda Jackson, these women of alt-country reenergized a genre that was in peril of losing its way. And we thank them.