12 Songs That Helped Create The Country Music Underground
The underground country movement initially formed around the mid 90’s not because somebody launched a website or a record label. It wasn’t because of a festival or because someone came up with a special name for a new genre. It wasn’t because some personality who was bestowed a famous name took the reigns and began promoting music. The strength, the support, and the fervor that went into forming underground country and the bonds and infrastructure that is still around today came from the songs artists were writing, recording, and performing; songs that spoke very deep to the hearts of hungry listeners. In the end, all leadership and must come from the music. A good song will solve its own problems. Like water, it will eventually find a path to thirsty ears, and funnel support to the artist and infrastructure that surrounds it.
This isn’t necessarily a list of the greatest underground country songs, or even the most influential. It is simply 12 songs that were so good, they helped create something where there was nothing before.
Wayne “The Train” Hancock – “Juke Joint Jumpin'”
Wayne Hancock is one of the fathers of underground country, and he’s also the King of Juke Joint Swing, so it’s only appropriate to include one of his signature songs here. The very first song on his very first album Thunderstorms & Neon Signs from 1995, it made listeners wonder if they were hearing the ghost of Hank Williams. Later Hancock would perform the song as a duet with Hank Williams III.
Hank Williams III – “Not Everybody Likes Us”
Hank3 has probably written better songs, but not that speak to the spirit of underground country so well. “Not everybody like us, but we drive some folks wild” epitomizes the philosophy behind the country music underground—that it doesn’t matter if the masses like your music, only if you and your friends do. Add on top of that a big dig at country radio, and “Not Everybody Likes Us” has become a rallying cry of underground country music.
.357 String Band/ Jayke Orvis – “Raise The Moon”
This song is so good, it has been released twice, been played regularly by three different bands, and still is not tired. Written by Jayke Orvis, “Raise The Moon” originally appeared on the .357 String Band’s first album Ghost Town in 2006. When Jayke Orvis left .357 for a solo career and a spot in the Goddamn Gallows, the song appeared on the Gallows’ album 7 Devils. 7 years later and the song still remains a staple of Jayke’s live show, and a defining sound of underground country.
The Boomswagglers – “Run You Down”
Authenticity is such an unattainable myth in modern music these days that it is nearly impossible to find a truly original and untainted sentiment. But that is what The Boomswagglers serve up with “Run You Down.” It is one of those songs that immediately sticks in your head and stays with you for a lifetime. Defying style trends, it is simply good, and its story, like much of The Boomswagglers music, is deceptively deep. Songs like this withstand the test of time.
Hank Williams III – “Straight to Hell”
The title track off of Hank3’s magnum opus Straight to Hell from 2006 was the “hit” of underground country if it ever had one. It has risen to become one of Hank3’s signature songs, and he regularly uses it to start off his live shows.
Bob Wayne – “Blood to Dust”
Bob Wayne may be best known for his wild-assed party songs laced with drugs, loose women, and running from the cops, but that doesn’t mean he can’t write a deep song when he wants. As Bob will tell you, every word in this song is true, and the personal and poignant nature of the story makes it very hard to not be affected emotionally when it is listened to with an open heart. “Blood to Dust” speaks to the broken nature of many of underground country’s artists and fans. The song appears on Bob Wayne’s very first album of the same name, and his first big release Outlaw Carnie on Century Media.
JB Beverley & The Wayward Drifters – “Dark Bar & A Juke Box”
Underground country isn’t just a sound, it is a sentiment; a feeling that something is wrong in country music, and something needs to be done about it. This is the foundation for the title track off of JB Beverley & The Wayward Drifter’s 2006 album. At the time JB Beverley may have been better known for fronting punk bands. But unlike many of the underground country bands that would come along later, blurring the lines between punk and country, JB Beverley serves “Dark Bar & A Juke Box” up straight, in a sound that refers Wayne Hancock’s throwback style.
Wayne “The Train” Hancock – “Johnny Law”
If “Juke Joint Jumpin'” is Wayne Hancock’s signature song, then Johnny Law is his defining jam. This song has become a showcase for some of the greatest musicians in the history of underground country during the extended breaks for both the guitar and upright bass player. It might also go down in history as one of the most requested songs in underground country.
Dale Watson – “Nashville Rash”
For a precious time in the late 90’s ans early 2000’s, the triumvirate of Wayne Hancock, Hank Williams III, and Dale Watson looked like they were going to take the country music world by storm. It was because they were willing to speak out, and lead by example, both sonically and lyrically. Dale is still leading today, and his legacy of country protest songs like “Nashville Rash” still gets you pumping your fist.
Rachel Brooke & Lonesome Wyatt – “Someday I’ll Fall”
Rachel Brooke, The Queen of Underground Country, and one of the founding fathers of Gothic country, Lonesome Wyatt from Those Poor Bastards, teamed up in 2009 for the landmark album A Bitter Harvest. The album, and specifically the song “Someday I’ll Fall” symbolize the collaborative spirit inherent in underground country—where two artist come together to become greater than the sum of their parts. “Someday I’ll Fall” is also a great example of taking old school influences and embedding them in a new, fresh approach.
Joe Buck Yourself – “Planet Seeth”
One of the men responsible for helping to revitalize the hallowed ground of lower Broadway in Nashville in the mid 90’s delivers this bloodletting of a song where the audience is actively encouraged to release their hate in Joe Buck’s direction. Though the language and music may be too hard for most, the concept and execution of “Planet Seeth” is nonetheless genius. It embodies the participatory aspect of underground country, where the crowd is as much a part of the show as the artist, giving back in energy what they receive from the performer in a symbiotic relationship.
Wayne “The Train” Hancock – “Thunderstorms & Neon Signs”
Few songs can evokes mood and reminiscent memory like Hancock’s “Thunderstorms & Neon Signs.” It set the standard for the old-school style of country swing that was so seminal to the formation of underground country. The song’s legacy was cemented when Hank Williams III covered it on his first album Risin’ Outlaw, introducing Wayne Hancock to a whole new audience, and vice versa. “Thunderstorms & Neon Signs” helped cement the underground country movement.
September 11, 2013 @ 9:52 am
Good call. These are all songs that represent the movement perfectly. I was lucky enough to be at the show when that version of Juke Joint Jumpin’ was shot. Brian Setzer was also there at Lee’s Liquor Lounge and he later played with Wayne and the band for about 20 minutes. Best show I ever saw, hands down.
September 11, 2013 @ 10:12 am
Awesome list!! Sure defines lot of my influences in the roots movement.
September 11, 2013 @ 10:19 am
Nice List – Wayne “the Train” Hancock, Joe Buck Yourself…. mighty talented folks on your list.
September 11, 2013 @ 11:15 am
Great List!!! 90% of these songs are played regularly in my rotation.
September 11, 2013 @ 11:46 am
Great tunes on the list straight to hell, thunderstorms and neon signs, not everybody likes us and nashville rash are still some of my all time favorites. From a Texas/ Red Dirt point of view The Road Goes on Forever is up there too. I’ll never forget the forst time I saw Dale Watson playing Billy Bobs in Fort Worth with Chris Wall back in the 90’s, that show blew me away one of the best gigs I ever saw.
September 11, 2013 @ 11:50 am
That’s a good summary on what true Country music is.
PS : Any news about The Boomswagglers ?
September 11, 2013 @ 1:08 pm
There may be some news coming from The Boomswagglers sooner than later….
September 11, 2013 @ 11:53 am
I’m more inclined to believe that the “country music underground” started in the 1970s with the likes of Steve Goodman, John Prine, Kinky Friedman, et al.
September 11, 2013 @ 1:10 pm
I think it was at the 1975 CMA Awards that described Waylon Jennings as being from the “country music underground,” and certainly these artists are from the same extended lineage of those earlier artists. But at some point in the mid-90’s there was a rebirth, and that is what this version of the “underground” refers to. I’ve also been working on an extended “history” of the country music underground, that traces the roots of the movement back.
September 12, 2013 @ 8:08 am
That’s an interesting statement given that Waylon had been consistently producing hit songs for 10 years when it was made, and that he started his career in Nashville before returning to Texas to join the Austin music scene with Willie.
I think the commercial success of the “outlaws” broke up the underground for a few years because every label was out beating the bushes looking for independent acts to sign. By the time I got interested in the early ’80s the only artists left in the underground were the ones who didn’t have much commercial appeal as performers (many of whom did find success as songwriters) and those who were too independent to join the crowd. The end of the new traditionalist movement and the emergence of the hat act/line dance era in the early ’90s created a new niche for “underground” artists. And the development of the internet as an effective, low-cost marketing tool at about the same time means that today’s underground artists can ply their trade without dealing with Nashville. Which on the one hand is great; but on the other hand, it means fewer independent artists will even try to make inroads into the establishment which subsequently means that the Nashville’s current downward spiral will probably continue on to infinity.
September 12, 2013 @ 2:41 pm
@Tom – Don’t get me wrong,Trigger does a good job and yes.this blog may be about the 90’s rebirth,but even if it wasn’t,you wont see John Prine’s name on any list or anywhere here (except the comment section once in awhile)..
The man didn’t even make the 100 top song list here,Just saying!
September 13, 2013 @ 7:54 am
I hate to speak for someone else’s work, but after reading this blog for a few months or so it seems like Trigger’s main objective is to call out contemporary mainstream country for what it is (mostly crap) and turn people on to current artists who are recording country music in the style of 30+ years ago. Given that context, John Prine really isn’t relevant to the discussion because his recent releases have been more in the folk vein.
I only brought him up in the comments of this blog post because I don’t think you can really have a comprehensive discussion about the true beginnings of “underground country” without including Prine and the other independent artists who were performing in Austin and Chicago in the early 1970’s.
September 13, 2013 @ 10:05 pm
As for John Prine, people gave me the same hell for never featuring Guy Clark, until I featured him. There’s so many artists out there, both contemporary and legacy, and there’s only one of me. Just because I haven’t featured an artist in one way or another doesn’t mean I don’t like them, am not aware of them, or I won’t feature that artist in the future. And there’s many artists I’ve featured that the average reader has never heard of before, or had never heard of before I introduced them to them. If you are already a fan of John Prine, then what more can I do than validate your opinions? I’d rather turn you on to a name you’ve never heard before.
I’m sure John Prine will get his due here in due course.
September 11, 2013 @ 2:35 pm
I agree with that statement. However one could argue that was more along the lines of “alt-country”. I believe this article is good in pointing out the more modern “underground country” movement.
September 12, 2013 @ 8:13 am
I’d probably flip-flop the two terms, myself, mainly because alt-country (which in the past was usually written alt.country in reference to a usenet group devoted to independent country artists) is a term coined in the 1990s. It just seems a little strange applying it to a group whose heyday was 20 years earlier.
September 11, 2013 @ 1:00 pm
I’d swap “Not Everybody Likes Us” with “Whiskey, Weed, and Women.” Even the title now sounds played-out given the leagues of imitators, but doesn’t that just prove it helped to create this whole thing.
Although I can’t pull that one signature song of the top of my head, I’d include something by the Rev and Th’ Legendary SSs. To me, Hank3, BR-549, The Rev, Th’ Legendary SSs, Dale Watson, and The Train invented the Underground that everybody plays in today.
September 11, 2013 @ 1:12 pm
There are many songs from Hank3’s “Lovesick, Broke & Drifitn'” that are probably better songs than the two above, but I personally thought they embodied the philosophy of the country music underground more. “Whiskey, Weed & Women” is certainly a good selection though.
September 11, 2013 @ 1:33 pm
It would be interesting to see a list or just folks posting the song, songs or artist that they listened to prior to the “underground” country scene.
I’m not a big pop-country supporter, but I’m also annoyed with the punk and metal artists, fans that in the wake of that scene deteriorating somehow insist they are true country supporters. They don’t look or act like the pop-country stars, but similar motives bring them to country.
Some maybe helped the underground ‘country’ scene, but putting a wrinkled cowboy hat on punk, is the same as putting a leather cowboy hat on pop.
September 12, 2013 @ 6:36 am
You read my mind. Just like in popular music there are the true talents, then there are the hacks that are just in it for the scene cred.
Watching a band that looks like street punks playing distortion heavy pop punk/screamo with a mandolin is not country. I’ve seen my fair share of shows like this. A few bands come to mind, but I’m reluctant to share their names…aw fuck it.
Last False Hope
The Ditchrunners (makes me sick)
September 12, 2013 @ 8:36 am
The intrusion of punk elements into country that have no or little respect for the roots of the music and whose knowledge of country music only goes skin deep are just as intrusive and wrong as when pop and rap elements are combined with country. It doesn’t mean that punk, pop, and rap can’t be blended with country well when done right, but too often in underground country, bands and artists are disrespecting the roots and misrepresenting the music by trying to fit into the “scene.”
Underground country was partially founded on bands like Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Jason and the Scoarchers who were able to blend country and punk well. But like most things, it got bastardized by some punk bands who simply fled to roots music looking for support.
I’m not speaking about any band specifically (but go ahead and assume I am and use that for marketing if you wish 😉 ) but this is one of the reasons underground is suffering right now, is because the presence of scenester punk gone country bands that lack authenticity, and the thought that underground roots needs to be represented by big bands outside the genre from the punk and metal worlds to make up for the lack of commercial viability of the smaller bands, whereby perpetuating the already-formed stereotypes that all underground country is, is a bunch of screaming punk bands with banjos. It is a shame, because there are still a lot of country punk bands out there doing amazing things.
September 12, 2013 @ 8:37 am
I didn’t want to call bands out, cause that will cause a shit storm here.
What got me turned to some underground bands was Jamey Johnson. His sound turned me to researching who else was doing real country, and I found many bands.
Also found a lot of punk and metal calling it country.
September 12, 2013 @ 10:55 am
Wayne Hancock and Hank III were my introduction into the underground of country. I grew up listening to all the old great Texas music regulars, but never really considered them underground cause they toured extensively in my state.
I recently re-listened to Swingin’ Utters’ “Five Lessons Learned” (an album I’ve loved since its release in the mid-90’s) and realized it could loosely be called country. There’s tons of mandolin, acoustic guitars, honky piano playin’, and themes of whiskey, trains, and sentimental stories. There’s a prefect example of street punks inventing a sound out of passion and love for the pioneers before them, and doing it damn well!
September 12, 2013 @ 11:11 pm
Why don’t you be a man and come out and name who you’re talking about. You sound like another one of Shooter’s troll. Hank 3 mixes country with a touch of punk and if you don’t like our hillbilly music, well man go…………
September 11, 2013 @ 1:37 pm
I agree with this list 100% and I’m always glad to see the Boomswagglers gettin some recognition!
September 11, 2013 @ 7:18 pm
what, no Slackeye Slim “Texas Whore Pleaser”? haha, “That devil loves his whores like a church-goin woman loves rattlesnake eggs in the morning”.
Genius.
September 11, 2013 @ 8:13 pm
anything from cash’s 1st rubin sesh and billy joe’s tramp could/should be one here. the circuit was already in place. not to argue with the list you’ve done here, but the key thing that happened in the late mid-90s was the internet.
September 12, 2013 @ 3:39 am
This list is way off, Trigger you missed the mark once again when trying to go into actual underground country territory. There might be maybe one or two hear that you could possibility say “helped create ” underground country. Beyond that there just great songs. Theirs allot more to underground country than the bands listed.
September 12, 2013 @ 8:19 am
“Theirs allot more to underground country than the bands listed.”
This isn’t a list of bands, this is a list of songs. I see this all the time when I make a list of songs. “Where’s Shooter?!?” or whatever. A list of underground artists would look completely different, and if I had claimed to make an extensive list of underground country songs, of course it would be incomplete. I simply wanted to highlight these 12. It goes without saying there’s more to underground country, and I even said above that these weren’t even the greatest and most influential above.
There were two points to this 1) Hopefully turn some folks on to some good songs. 2) Illustrate that scene players can do whatever they want, but in the end the best way to create appeal and support for music is simply to write and perform a song that speaks to people very deeply. This will go way beyond what I or any other person can do outside of the music. The reason underground country is suffering right now why seemingly every other sector of roots music—whether the Texas scene, the east Nashville scene, bluegrass, etc. etc. is thriving—is because the quality, innovation, and boldness of the music is no longer there. Of course there are exceptions, but mostly what is going on is people’s best renditions of what was cool in 2007. If underground music wants to create real support for its artists, it must start with the music. Then that music must be intelligently supported. Neither of these things are happening. It has been mostly replaced by popularity contests on Facebook.
September 15, 2013 @ 9:02 am
“If underground music wants to create real support for its artists, it must start with the music. Then that music must be intelligently supported. Neither of these things are happening. It has been mostly replaced by popularity contests on Facebook.”
This is dead on. There was a quote a little while back (I think said by you) that explained the state of the current ‘scene’ extremely well. Something along the lines of, “You can only sell black band sweatshirts to the same people for so long”.
September 15, 2013 @ 11:43 am
https://savingcountrymusic.com/why-underground-country-music-is-dying-a-treatise
“Underground country is funded by the $40 hoodie, and this creates a paradox for the music that is supposed to be the focus.”
September 12, 2013 @ 5:56 am
FANTASTIC POST! I agree whole heartedly with ya on this one. I never caught “Boomswagglers” before this and appreciate the chance to check’em out further, their style is very much like “Woody Pines”. 2 Guns Up!!