Whiskeytown

I'm a broke college student. I'm also a big fan of going downtown with my friends on the weekends. It's not difficult to see that each of these traits beget the other. Thus, at the beginning of this semester I decided to pick up a part-time job to make a little extra cash. I applied for and got a landscaping job for an elderly couple in Seneca. On the way to work the first day I thought to myself "piece of cake, cut some grass make some money." It didn't pan out that way at all. I quickly learned that I never want to work for another Georgia Tech engineer ever again. I mean, the man moved into a house in the middle of a coniferous forest and has a zealous disdain for pine cones. Needless to say, I've spent many a long day fighting against a rising tide of pine cones with only Slacker Radio on my Crackberry to keep me afloat.

This is how I discovered Whiskeytown.

Whiskeytown is an alt-country band hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina. They sound a lot like every other alt-country band to come out of the 90's. You can draw lines from their sound directly back to bands like Uncle Tupelo and the two bands that resulted from Uncle Tupelo's breakup, Wilco and Son Volt. While the sound isn't anything incredibly unique, it's front man Ryan Adams' lyrics that really set the band apart from their contemporaries. The lyrics are beautifully written; simultaneously whimsical and melancholy. Adams has a way with words that you just don't see in this day and age of LMFAO and Justin Beiber.

Whiskeytown and Adams were the last of a dying breed. They were your one of those bands that fought like cats and dogs and came out on the other end with incredible music. Adams had a reputation for hard living and ultimately that broke up the band. They left behind a comparatively small, yet quality library. I've chosen a couple of my favorite songs. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.