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Alternative Country

Jason Molina, Lorain, Ohio

Songs: Ohia

Songs: Ohia was Jason Molina's project. He was born in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1973, grew up in Lorain, and played bass in metal bands around Cleveland before turning to sparse, haunted songs of his own. The first release, a 1995 single, came out on Will Oldham's Palace Records, and after that Secretly Canadian of Bloomington, Indiana, was his home. Molina was the only permanent member. The musicians changed from record to record, and the sound ranged from near-silent solo recordings to full-band country rock. In 2003 he renamed the project Magnolia Electric Co., which put out music until about 2009. He died in Indianapolis in March 2013, aged 39.

Will Oldham, Louisville

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Bonnie "Prince" Billy is the name Will Oldham has used since 1998. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1970 and started out as an actor, playing a teenage preacher in John Sayles's Matewan in 1987. From 1993 he recorded under shifting versions of the Palace name, Palace Brothers and Palace Music among them. His records come out on Drag City in the US and Domino in Europe, and they draw on old-time country, Appalachian ballads and gospel, sung in a cracked, intimate voice. He has made dozens of albums and collaborations since, starred in Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy in 2006, and released We Are Together Again in 2026.

Howe Gelb, Tucson

Giant Sand

Giant Sand started in Tucson, Arizona, in the late 1970s as Giant Sandworms, the band of Howe Gelb, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1956 and is its only constant member. The name had been shortened by 1983, and the debut album came out in 1985. That began a long, restless catalogue of desert rock, country, jazz and fractured songwriting on labels including Homestead, Thrill Jockey and Fire. Joey Burns and John Convertino were the rhythm section for years, until they left in 1996 to form Calexico. Among the later records, Chore of Enchantment in 2000 and Heartbreak Pass in 2015 stand out, and in 2018 Gelb re-recorded the first album with a new lineup. A bigger version of the band also plays as Giant Giant Sand.

Jay Farrar, after Uncle Tupelo

Son Volt

Jay Farrar formed Son Volt in 1994 after Uncle Tupelo broke up, bringing in Uncle Tupelo's original drummer Mike Heidorn and the brothers Jim and Dave Boquist. Their first show was in Minneapolis in June 1995. Trace, their Warner Bros. debut that year, still gets counted among the defining alternative country albums, and Straightaways and Wide Swing Tremolo came after it. The band went quiet after 1999. In 2004 Farrar came back with a new lineup and released Okemah and the Melody of Riot in 2005. He has kept the name going since on Rounder and his own Transmit Sound label, through Notes of Blue in 2017, a Doug Sahm tribute in 2023 and Sound Signal Serenades in 2026.

Belleville, Illinois, 1987

Uncle Tupelo

Uncle Tupelo formed in Belleville, Illinois, in 1987, when Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn, who had played together as The Primitives, began mixing punk energy with country and folk. Their first three albums came out on Rockville Records between 1990 and 1992. The third was an acoustic set recorded in five days. In 1993 they made one album for Sire, a major label, with a bigger lineup. Farrar left in early 1994 and the band played its last show that May. Farrar went on to form Son Volt, and Tweedy and the others formed Wilco. Uncle Tupelo usually gets the credit for starting alternative country, and an influential magazine of the genre named itself after their debut album.

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