Alt-country / Americana, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Folk rock 1964
Folk lyrics played on a twelve-string electric guitar. It taught rock that the words can matter as much as the riff.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief. The birth certificate of British folk rock.
Fairport Convention, Fairport Convention (1968) - 3 Then
Country rock 1968
Pedal steel and three-part harmony over a rock rhythm section. The sound of Laurel Canyon.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin. Cannabis embroidered on the suits, serious music inside.
The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) - 4 What you asked about
Alt-country / Americana 1990
Country filtered through punk and indie: same instruments, very different attitude toward Nashville.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Wilco - Being There. A double album that cannot decide on a genre, to its benefit.
Wilco, Being There (1996) - 5 Where to go next
Neo-prog 1981
Prog's 1980s comeback, with digital keyboards, shorter songs and more melodrama.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood. A continuous album with no gaps between tracks.
Marillion, Misplaced Childhood (1985)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Alt-country / Americana descends from, in order. Alt-country / Americana has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.