Let’s Talk Alt-Country

Alt-Country. It’s the new talking point for all insufferable people everywhere. I mean, you can only scroll on your phone for so long until you see some headline about Geese or Wednesday. It’s a genre that’s quickly defining this decade’s indie/alternative scene, from the brand names to local music scenes. And that’s not for no reason – the genre is thrillingly fresh to an entirely new generation who grew up with electronic pop music shuffling through radio stations. 

It’s not like country is a brand new genre that popped out of the blue, the music has been around for centuries. It’s the thing that, 10 years ago, everyone said they could hardly stand to listen to. But, since the turn of the decade, it’s been infecting everyone’s playlist like a wildfire and has seeped its way into various other subgenres of music. Maybe it’s a recession indicator, maybe it’s the warmth of the music, but country music is it right now. With the huge household names like Zach Bryan and Morgan Wallen selling out stadiums to the types of people who don’t play games about Mr. President Trump. All jokes aside, this surge in country’s popularity has found its way into the contemporary indie scene in an extremely refreshing and exciting way.

Country music, at least for the last 30 years or so, has always given the indie scene a platform for how its going to sound. ITAOTS and The Glow Pt.2 are some of the twangiest sounding records ever, and though more closely folk-adjacent, there’s no denying the influence of country in them (especially considering Jeff Mangum is from Louisiana). Alt-country, as a genre itself, is widely considered to have been created or at least mainlined by Uncle Tupelo’s 1990 “No Depression”. If you’re unfamiliar with the group, it was basically the precursor to Wilco with a few of the same members and frontman. Wilco was a widely influential alt-country group that eventually evolved their sound over the years. It’s impossible to mention Wilco without also bringing up an alt-country legend like Jason Molina who elevated and distinguished alt-country’s songwriting and sound even further from its parent genres. But, this folky-country-thingy kind of burned its flame throughout the 2000’s then sort of burned out. Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, and Dr. Dog are some of the more notable folk artists of the mid-to-late 2000’s but they don’t really have anything country about their records. It sort of just died out, randomly, at least in indie subculture. The twanginess of the 90’s indie scene was replaced by lofi, which itself stemmed from groups like Neutral Milk Hotel who were products of country music, sort of like a weird circlejerk. Lofi music took the indie scene by storm with huge acts emerging out of the 2010’s like Car Seat Headrest, Beach House, and Mitski. But then…it all kind of slowly started circling back…again. 

I think a huge proprietor of this (not just because him and Evan Stephens Hall sound legitimately identical) is Tyler Childers. Tyler Childers by no means is specifically an indie artist but is an amalgamation of so many genres, blending his incredible and personal and drawling songwriting with everything that everyone loves about country. No matter what your favorite genre of music is, whether you even give a shit about country or not, there’s no denying Tyler Childers’ masterclasses in creating great music and his HUGE influences on the indie scene, especially local scenes. But…going back to his vocal twin–Evan Stephens Hall. The frontman of Pinegrove and definitely one of the most important people in music today. Pinegrove, a band that blew up massively on TikTok in 2023 thanks to a dance called the Pinegrove shuffle made by some rising college freshman, was already a huge name in indie. Pinegrove is like the most clear direct product of alt-country we have thus far in the timeline, with Hall citing Wilco as a major influence for his songwriting and sound. Pinegrove has everything good about folk, indie rock, and alt-country and cleared the pavement for the alt-country bands that would emerge after them. 

But–let’s fast forward to 2026. The era of Geese and MJ Lenderman. MJ is the most alt-country sounding dude pretty much ever. A member of the band Wednesday, his solo project Manning Fireworks that released in 2024 debuted to major critical acclaim. It’s hard for me to listen to him without constantly having to acknowledge the voice in the back of my head that he sounds so eerily like Mark Kozelek. MJ grew up in the blue ridge mountains and sounds like the byproduct of Silver Jews, Jason Molina, Wilco, Pavement, and even Pinegrove. His music brings something so fresh and exhilarating to the indie scene and while not loved by some – I think he’s brilliant. It’s blues, it’s indie, it’s country, it’s fun and the lyrics are entertaining. What the hell is a houseboat doing docked at a… Himbo dome? His band, Wednesday, is fantastic too. Not as country as MJ’s solo stuff but still really worth checking out. As for Geese, well, who hasn’t heard of Geese at this point? A band that I heard a couple of years ago on a Spotify autoshuffle has blown up immensely since the release of their record Getting Killed. That record, though, is not alt country, and subsequently, not their best. You’re entitled to your own opinion though. But their 2023 release, 3-D Country, is definitely alt-country, and is a fantastic fantastic album, To think that these kids were teenagers or very early twenties when it was released is just insane. 3-D Country is everything great about alt-country meshing with brilliant proponents of post-rock and that 60’s psychidelic vibe. I think that Winter’s voice is just so captivating on this record and really fits the genre so well. I was a bit upset when I didn’t hear as much of it on Getting Killed but it’s still an okay album. I’m not the biggest fan of that sort of BCNR/RMP sound that is ever apparent on Getting Killed but that’s just a personal preference.

So.. what now? It’s thrilling and such a privilege to be living in a time where indie music is so exciting and always moving forward with the sound and especially to be in a place like New England where these alt-country influences are everywhere in the local scene. Bands like Autumn Drive, Morrissey Boulevard, and Rigometrics are all great examples of what can be done with raw talent and would definitely recommend checking out one of their shows if you’ve got the time. I hope alt-country stays popular and evolving forever cause it’s just so good. Don’t say you can’t stand country until you’ve listened to a David Berman song.