Americana, alt.country – call it what you will, but we’re using it as a catch-all for music with a country-tinged sound or its roots in the country scene. Some of these acts have a full-on Dolly-style attitude, while others are closer to rock and roll with just a hint of pedal steel. It’s an exciting scene, certainly not the reactionary hillbilly cartoon music that some British listeners imagine inner-state American music to be. Here are 30 questions about some of the old guard and the new kids on the scene.
Answers: here
1 When an album tops the US country chart, it can sometimes stay there for a while. For example: Glen Campbell held the top spot from November 1968 until June 1969 the following year with two successive releases. Named after two of his most famous songs, what were they called?
2 Car Wheels on a Gravel Road launched which alt.country artist towards into the mainstream? Released in 2014, which of her albums gave the singer her highest UK chart placing when it reached number 23?
3 What was the name of the psychedelic protest band formed by Joe McDonald and Barry Melton? A performance at which festival remains their finest moment?
4 Who was the original ‘King of the Road’, topping the UK singles chart in 1965? Which Scottish band took the same number back into the Top 10 in 1990?
5 With which bands did Graham Nash and David Crosby play before forming Crosby, Stills & Nash with Stephen Stills?
6 Luxury Liner and Wrecking Ball are two of many career highlights for which enduringly successful country singer? With whom has she made two well-received albums in recent years, Old Yellow Moon and The Traveling Kind?
7 Chicago have given many of their album titles a Roman numeral: Chicago V, Chicago XIV and so on. What was the title of their 1969 debut LP, which was also at that time the name of the band? And what has been their biggest hit single, reaching number one in the US and the UK in 1976?
8 Released in 2002, what was Shania Twain’s fourth album and the follow-up to the massive Come On Over? Why shouldn’t the singer be hailed as the all-American icon she appears to be?
9 Which classic Gram Parsons album was released posthumously in early 1974, months after his death from a drugs overdose? Which band did he form after leaving the Byrds?
10 Released in 2014, Out Among the Stars was a posthumous album by which singer? Who had previously released The List, an album based on a list she had found in the singer’s house after his death?
11 Evil Urges was the 2008 breakthrough album for which alternative American rock band? Who is their charismatic songwriter and singer?
12 Which supergroup includes Scott McCaughey of the Minus 5, Belle & Sebastian’s drummer Richard Colburn and REM’s guitarist Peter Buck? Who is their singer and frontman?
13 Released in 1987, Trio was a collaboration between Dolly Parton and which two other country legends?
14 In 2009, Raising Sand garnered almost universal praise from critics. Which two artists, one a rock singer and the other a bluegrass star, collaborated on the project?
15 Whose brand of Latino country gave them a massive hit with ‘Dance the Night Away’ in 1998? What’s the name of the band’s singer and guitarist, who has also released six solo albums?
16 Whose beauty was beyond compare? And what colour were her eyes, to go with her ‘flaming locks of auburn hair’?
17 Which country album by Bobbie Gentry, named after the biggest hit single taken from it, replaced Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at the top of the US albums chart? Two years later, in 1969, which Bacharach and David song gave Gentry her only British number one?
18 The People’s Key is the final studio album by which American band, fronted by Conor Oberst? What’s the name of the backing band that Oberst sometimes uses for his solo projects?
19 Which band is led by Jakob Dylan, the son of Bob Dylan and Sara Lownds? What was the title of their most successful album so far, released in 1996 and produced by T-Bone Burnett?
20 Which massive US star had a rare UK chart entry with the album In Pieces in 1994? Which country singer became his second wife 11 years later?
21 Kurt Wagner is the main creative influence and only permanent member of which alt.country band? In 2004, the band released two albums. One was called Aw C’mon – what was the other?
22 Who wrote and recorded ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’, one of the most covered country songs? How old was this singer when he died in 1953, months after recording it?
23 The Dirty South, The Big To-Do and English Oceans are albums by which Alabama rock band? The band used to have three singer/guitarist/songwriters: which one left and now records with the 400 Unit?
24 In 1997, who won two Grammy Awards for her song and album ‘Blue’ at the age of just 14? Which song, the theme tune from the film Coyote Ugly, scored the singer her only British number one?
25 What’s the title of Ryan Adams’ impressive solo debut? And what was the name he used for his backing band on Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights?
26 Who is the only permanent member of longstanding US act Giant Sand? The two principal members of which other American band once served as the group’s rhythm section?
27 Which song topped the US charts and went Top 10 in the UK for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton? Who wrote it, apparently intending for it to be recorded by Marvin Gaye?
28 What’s the name of John Grant’s third solo album, released in 2015? With which band did Grant release six studio albums before embarking on a solo career?
29 Highwayman is a 1985 album by a supergroup featuring Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and which two other country legends?
30 Taken from a classic country song written by the answer to question 22, what’s the title both of Steve Earle’s 2011 album and his first novel? Which country singer became Earle’s seventh wife in 2005 (and his seventh ex-wife in 2014)?