Here at Uncut, Americana is very much at the heart of what we do. It was, legendarily, on a 1996 trip to interview Lambchop that founding editor Allan Jones started to think that what he was witnessing had a place in a different kind of magazine than the one he was currently editing.
As you’ll come to understand as you read this new magazine, a lot has changed in that 30 years – but a lot has stayed the same. Uncut has continued to champion new music from across the spectrum, from minimal techno to drone metal, but Americana – a long highway on a hot day, with something bad in the rearview mirror – continues to provide a key characteristic of the magazine.
In this new issue of the Ultimate Record Collection, we review and rank the 200 Greatest Americana albums of all time, and bring additional personality to the experience by drawing on our substantial archive of classic Americana interviews. The opening words in the magazine are from a meeting with Will Oldham, a spellbinding writer and performer whose musical connections form an unlikely thread between the post-rock of Slint and the solemn reflections of Johnny Cash. We will hear from key performers like Lucinda Williams, Jason Isbell, and Sturgill Simpson. Unforgivably, I have omitted to include Bruce Langhorne’s soundtrack to The Hired Hand, Peter Fonda’s tender, mildly psychedelic western from 1972. But then a key Americana mood is regret.
But what is Americana? If you were forced to pin it down in 400 words you might say that it you could think of it as a mid-sized town on the map with neighbours in Bob Dylan & The Band, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. There’s an excellent museum which contains traditional recordings from the past…residents are encouraged to visit, but no penalties are issued for ignoring the exhibits – you can take as much or as little as you want from here, and do what you want with it. There is a reliably excellent diner where the staff have colourful backgrounds they mostly keep to themselves. The tavern is welcoming – some have been unable to resist its pull – and open late.
And its citizens, if we continue with this idea a fraction longer, are generally as productive as they are varied. On the surface there’s not much to link the polemical folk rediscoveries of Rhiannon Giddens and the spooky compositions of the Handsome Family; the raw heartland pioneering of the Drive By Truckers with the experimental rewiring of form undertaken by Wilco. What seems consistent though is a sense in which this music responds to the potent culture and history of the United States. Every story has to fight to be heard, and each is about the possibility for change. Enjoy the magazine! It’s in the shops now, ot you can get yours from us here.
John Robinson, Editor