Ambient country, or whatever you call it, is where it’s at
Tuesday May 23, 2006 – 9:00 pmI want to talk about a particular music-related collectomania of mine. Well actually it’s such a deep and narrow subgenre of music that it’s hard to even call myself a collector, seein’ as how I can pretty much count these albums on one hand! Okay. I don’t know of a good term for this music so I just refer to it as "ambient country". Which is a horrible term I admit, but it’s the best I could do. This music, it’s kinda like Brian Eno but with guitars. It has to be instrumental, and it must be sparsely arranged. It should evoke rattlesnakes and desert landscapes that drone on and on. It should incorporate touches of slide guitar, steel guitar or maybe both. So anyway here’s my very short list of albums I love that more or less fall into the category I’m describing. If you can think of other albums along the same lines, post a comment!
- Ry Cooder Paris Texas soundtrack (the granddaddy of ‘em all!)
- Loren Mazzacane-Connors In Pittsburgh (Rian Murphy turned me on to this back in ‘96 when we were recording my first album)
- A Small Good Thing Slim Westerns (which I discovered back in the glory days of Napster)
- World Standard Country Gazette (same thing)
- Bruce Kaphan Slider (which John W. turned me on to)
- Bill Frisell Ghost Town (an Eric Z. turnon)
The interesting thing about this list (to me) is that every single one of those albums is being marketed towards a different audience; they’re all supposed to be different genres. Cooder’s a soundtrack guy, Frisell’s a jazzbo. A Small Good Thing is supposed to be ambient or something. World Standard is, I dunno, Japanese folktronica? Bruce Kaphan is more along the New-Agey tip and Loren Mazzacane is supposed to be all experimental and shit. But they don’t fool me. They’re all trying to make different versions of the same record, and it happens to be a record I really love, so I’m cool with that! Whoever they are!
Of course I’ve heard a lot of other individual songs by artists that would totally fit, but not necessarily whole albums… Calexico does that shit pretty well, when they do the instrumental thing and forego the drums and mariachi horns. And the old Ennio Morricone spaghetti-western soundtracks and whatnot… now THAT’s a deep vein of material I’m sure! I just don’t know where to begin with all that shit.
I was talking a bit about this with Eric, and also with Henry, the guy from Lanterna? His music is kinda along those same lines — or rather, he has lots of songs that would totally fall into that same category but there’s no whole album that stays in that vein for very long. So Lanterna’s a little too rockin’ to fit that mold all the way, but it does kinda help explain why I’d have a predisposition towards liking their music.
Alright, this concludes my very unacademic thesis on Ambient Country. Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:40 pm
As soon as you said Morricone… you know I’m into that. :)
Someone needed to coin a term for it… why not you?
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Well it just bugs me because it’s an incorrect description based on my own definition of the word "ambient". I’m one of those "ambient is Eno and not Moby" people. Ambient has to be almost *nothing*, no drums, no guitars, no riffs, no nothin’ but wallpaper. Like, if something *wakes me up* from sleep or calls attention to itself in any way, then it’s not good ambient. And this so-called ambient country isn’t really suitable for sleeping. Too many cactus needles, it’d give you weird nightmares. So I dunno, I’d rather come up with a better term for it but I can’t think of what that would be.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:19 am
I love this stuff, but never had a name for it. "Ambient Countryj." Nice. I’ll look for the titles you mention above.
Check out the soundtrack to 21 Grams by Gustavo Santaolalla. I think that’s more of what you’re decscribing.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:52 am
bj cole, an english pedal steel player, did an ambient album called "transparent music," but it was more classically influenced with takes on clair de lune and pavane for a dead princess. maybe jon rauhaus will get around to making a desert soundscape.
May 25th, 2006 at 6:37 am
Scott, you beat me to b.j. cole. i would definitely add b.j. cole to the list of "ambient country" artists. he’s such a beautiful player! i can imagine what a edith frost and bj.. cole collaboration would sound like…
May 25th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
How ’bout Bruce Langhorne’s soundtrack to "The Hired Hand"? This was Peter Fonda’s existential Western he directed not too long after "Easy Rider". Langhorne made his name as a folkie instrumentalist backing Dylan and others in the early ’60s. And supposedly, he’s the inspiration behind Mr. Tambourine Man. The soundtrack has that very simple but ethereal, existential, austere vibe that’s quite beautiful. Edith, I bet this would make a viable candidate to add to your list.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:31 am
i’d forgotten about "the hired hand" - one of my favorite movies in college. i can remember being blown away by the music over the last image of a shimmering river. off to half.com to get the reissue.
May 26th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
‘The Tailored Soldier’ by Boxharp is a wonderful example of this. It was a one-off from the guy in Court & Spark. Starts off more song-oriented, but by the end it’s something else entirely. Might be out of print but worth finding.
May 28th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Oh I neglected to mention before, anybody who makes a suggestion is highly encouraged, but should not feel obligated at all, to burn me a copy! :-)
May 30th, 2006 at 9:09 am
forgot about the friends of dean martinez. http://www.icemagazine.com/daily/223/oct19.asp
May 30th, 2006 at 9:42 am
Yeah I dig them a lot but I didn’t consider them for my list, ‘cuz they’re too song-ey for the most part. Like Calexico they have some *songs* that qualify but not whole albums, at least not any I’ve heard.
May 31st, 2006 at 6:56 pm
And how might one send you such a burned copy? :-)
May 31st, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Duh on my part.
EDITH FROST
c/o Drag City, Inc.
2000 West Carroll Ave. #201
Chicago, IL 60612
Take yer time though, I might not get it for awhile… lotta traveling coming up and I don’t know when I’ll make it over to DC to pick up my mail. You can mail it whenever though, they just hold on to it for me until I go in, or until enough mail accumulates, they’ll bundle it up in a big burlap sack and send that to my house. Okay, maybe a small padded envelope. ;-)
June 1st, 2006 at 12:16 pm
I actually hear most of _Calling Over Time_ this way. "Follow" and "Denied" are good examples - they’re spaciously arranged in ways that suggest big skies and open expanses. (Having actually listened to this CD while driving through Utah and Wyoming, I can say this from personal experience.)
June 1st, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Well… I know what you mean but you’re wrong. Hee! It might have certain qualities of ambience but it’s not ambient, not by my definition. There can’t be a voice saying words that you can understand. Verses and choruses, no!! It’s wrong. Not ambient.
July 2nd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I’m a huge fan of the Paris, TX soundtrack. Something that leaps to mind as far as instrumental, wide-open, rattlesnake-evoking stuff goes, I highly recommend the latest album by Earth, "Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method" - it’s reminiscent of Neil Young’s soundtrack to "Dead Man".
January 29th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Just to say thanks for having this info up on your site. I’ve been looking for this sort of music specifically for the last couple of hours online and have found exactly what I need in Ry Cooder and Bill Frisell.
Many thanks
March 5th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I am amazed to find another person that likes this relaxation ‘music’ !
I’ve been trying to give it a name or at least try describe in words, but found it difficult while you succeeded magnificently! :D
The description of this ‘ambient country’ style, as you call it, couldn’t be better!
Thanks to you and anyone who contributed to putting together this list of CDs. Hope to see more!
BTW: I also agree that Ry Cooder’s album "Paris, Texas" probably is one of the best examples…
November 9th, 2007 at 11:49 am
I’ve heard this sub-sub-genre referred to as “ambient Americana.” It’s a great term, I think.
You should check out Daniel Lanois’ stuff, particularly his soundtrack to “Sling Blade.” Richard Thompson’s soundtrack to “Grizzly Man” fits the bill nicely, too. Viktor Krauss is a session musician who’s put out two AA-style albums that are quite good (both feature Bill Frisell).
There’s also the instrumental band The Six Parts Seven, though they’re more post-rock than AA. But they’re highly recommended, at least by me.
November 17th, 2007 at 5:56 am
was looking for a description of ambient country as am about to record an album in that genre.But will be asking singers Ive worked with in the past/present to contribute vocals.I also would like their lyrics to reflect the wide open spaces,empty towns,forgotten loves and the ability to find yourself in these places.Peter Murphy is on board and am going to ask Kate Havnevik and Dot Allison too,so watch this space !!