Big Sugar - Heated: riff-based pop rock at its finest. Truly heavy sounding. Gordie Johnson has a truly devastating guitar tone.
Cast Iron Filter - This Ugly Town: Truly great songwriting and playing from a band known more for their instrumental prowess.
The Edison Project - Do You Remember Rock and Roll?: Again, great pop rock going on here. Great playing, great singing, great songwriting, great production. Just never hit that critical mass to take it big.
The Everybodyfields - Halfway There: Electricity and the South: Gorgeous folk with pop sensibilities
The Hiss - Panic Movement: Uneven, but the high points should have been big time radio hits on modern rock radio.
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House - Menace: Southern rock mixed with punk from a band that isn't from the south shouldn't work, but it does, really well. This album absolutely drives. Seriously one of my 50 favorite albums of all time and it didn't even make a dent. Tragic really. Makes Drive-By Tuckers look like choir boys singing bubble gum pop, no small feat.
J. Mascis + The Fog - More Light: I think this is as good as any Dino Jr. record.
The Jayhawks - Tomorrow The Green Grass: Given every chance to make it big, this didn't. I have no idea why, as its a truly transcendent album. Perhaps alt-country's single best album as a genre.
Joe Purdy - Paris In the Morning: His songs have found their way into commercials and several popular TV shows (Grey's Anatomy and Lost) but his actualy albums don't get much play. A shame. My girlfriend calls this my "sad person" music, but it's also uplifting in ways too. Hits the full run of human emotion with a truly distinctive voice
Ocean Colour Scene - North Atlantic Drift: I think this is a better album than Mosely Shoals, which was a marginal hit in Britain during the prime of Noel Rock (back when Noel Gallagher could mention he liked an album and it would immediately go gold).
Old 97s - Satellite Rides: They tried to sell out and alienated many of their more hardcore alt-country fans and didn't actually make it big. Nobody really likes this album, though it's relatively well known for whatever genre its in. Hardcore fans hate it because they were "selling out" and not doing the same thing they had been doing in bars for years, casual fans barely noticed it. However, if indie pop alt-country was a genre, not only would this be the genre's best album ever, it would be as good as it could possibly get.
People In Planes - Beyond the Horizon: I keep thinking these guys are going to make it big, then they just don't clear the hump. Too good to truly succeed in corporate rock, too catchy to truly catch on with the higher-brow crowd.
Reckless Kelly - Bullet Proof: Another too good to truly succeed in mainstream country, too catchy to catch on with the alt-country crowd, a truly great record.
The Redbelly Band - Petition to the Queen: Changed their name to Dead Confederate on their next album and kinda sorta made it with European tours and spots on Conan, this album is better than the album that ended up making it.
Ryan Bingham - Roadhouse Sun: May have gotten his big break with the soundtrack to Crazy Heart, but this is a masterpiece. Hardcore fans like previous albums better though, but this is the one you want.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Behind the Music: Possibly one of the best albums of the early noughties, gets no appreciation.
Stewart and Winfield - 'Bout Time: just fun, laid back alt-country.
The Waxwings - Low to the Ground: Indie pop rock at its finest. Jangly, pretty and catchy all in turns, such a great album.
