ANOTHER COUNTRY VOLUME 2 - VARIOUS ARTISTS (IMPORT 2LP)

ANOTHER COUNTRY VOLUME 2/VARIOUS ARTISTS (IMPORT 2LP)

Agenda delves deeper into lonely-road melancholia and the alt.country bramble thicket on this, the second volume of its Another Country series. The English release only includes artists from North America. But the title is also a reference to the music's very nature. From the plaintive mandolin and bruised heart vocals of Okkervil River's 'Westfall,' to the tense stillness that defines contributions from Damien Jurado ('Abilene') and Songs: Ohia ('Steve Albini's Blues'), this set is more about the imagery, shadows, and moods of the country that is America. (Its stark duo-tone photography illustrates this.) The incredible 'Rooster Moans' is here, taken from Iron & Wine's The Creek Drank the Cradle. It's joined by the more conventional alt.country ramble of Richard Buckner, Giant Sand, and — of course — Ryan Adams. Azure Ray ('November'), Hope Sandoval ('Clear Day'), and Black Heart Procession (the Camper Van Beethoven-ish 'Sign in the Road') don't rely as much on the Americana backdrop, but they're still living with an eye toward that darkness in the pines. Another Country, Vol. 2 is a solid pickup for any explorers of the varying tributaries and two-tracks of 21st century country insurgency.

If you’re aware of the first critically acclaimed Another Country, you’ll already know that some of the finest, most affecting songwriting of our era is emerging from a landscape still recognizably ‘Country’, albeit one without too many blonde-wigged chanteuses and still fewer Stetson hats…. Another Country 2 takes us deeper into the heartland of American ‘Alt. Country’ – a place of otherworldly harmonies, stripped-down arrangements, plangent guitars, clanking banjos and a short-story anthology’s-worth of intriguing narratives. Not one artist here emanates from Nashville, though the rest of the country is well represented.
There are beautiful, harmony-laced porch hymnals from New York’s elegantly melodious Cub Country and Georgia’s disarmingly intimate Azure Ray. There’s heart-swelling, arcane boogie from Brooklynites The Boggs and died-in-the-wool Southerners Iron & Wine. Elsewhere, Arizonan legends Giant Sand chip in with a slice of beauteous desert-flecked country rock, while North Carolina’s superstar-elect Ryan Adams and Austin’s bucolic troubadours Okkervil River tip their feed caps toward Dylanesque folk-rock.

Another Country 2 showcases country music, then, but not so as you’d notice. These are songs that, irrespective of genre, you’ll simply want to inhabit. Like a tumbledown cottage or a beloved pair of boots; they have a lived-in charm that’s truly beguiling.

1. Cub Country – Your Old Street 
2. Eileen Rose – Wheels Going By 
3. Damien Jurado – Abileine 
4. Chris Mills – Lullaby 
5. Iron & Wine – The Rooster Moans 
6. Zoe, Pieta & Constie Brown – Ella Mae 
7. The Black Heart Procession – Sympathy Crime 
8. Ryan Adams – My Winding Wheel 
9. Okkervil River – West Fall 
10. Azure Ray – November 
11. Songs:Ohia – Steve Albini’s Blues 
12. Giant Sand – Shiver 
13. The Boggs – How Long 
14. Richard Buckner – A Goodbye Rye 
15. Mark Kozolek – Whats Next to The Moon 
16. Hope Sandoval – Clear Day