Hey, Remember This Damn (Good) Country Band?...A Return Trip To Whiskeytown

When I posted my slightly reworked version of Ryan Adams' best solo record Gold in *check notes* December 2024?! it was supposed to be only the startingpoint of a larger Adams project, with phase two being a look back on his years as Whiskeytown's band leader. I started on that comp, then got stuck and then...well...other things took precedence, and Whiskeytown were on the backburner. Until now. But now Whiskeytown is, uh, in town, and here to stay. Like many Alt Country/Americana acts I liked (see Hazeldine or Casal, Neal) Whiwkeytown never quite made it outside of a small cult circle. But they were one of the best and most memorable alt country groups when they were on, and a real big pain in the ass when they weren't. 

On one of their very first punblished songs, off their debut EP Angels, Adams and Whiskeytown delivered their credo and origin story: "So I started this dzmn country band...'cause punk rock was too hard to sing". A nice bit of self-mythologizing, and not entirely truthful as a reason, as ex-punk Adams fell under the spell of the greats like Hank Williams and, of course, Gram Parsons. And of course Adams always liked to piss off people for no particular reason, other than to amuse himself, so a couple of years later he declared that he hated country music. Adams always was behaving like an asshole, with the whole 'Me Too' accusations and subsequent vanishing from the public spotlight in 2019 only the logical end phase of being an asshole one too many time to one (or several) too many persons. But he was of course also a fabulous singer-songriter and (in)famously prolific on top of that. 

Whiskeytown, the original band, only existed for about to years, the second iteration another year after that, and the the band - at that time only being Adams and Cary plus assorted sidemen, starry friends of Adamd and members for hire - staggered on for another two and a half years before calling it quits in 2000 to give way to Adams' solo career. But in those years in between, from late 1994 to late 1997, Whiskeytown could be just about the best damn alt country band in the country, when they felt like it. They had the talent - mostly residing in Adams - , they had the songs, and in their best moments they had the performances. But like their inoffcial hero Gram Parsons they were sorely lacking in one thing: discipline. Stories of gigs in which they spent minutes tuning and discussing what to play, made up jokey songs on the spot or played like a heavy metal band just to mess with the audience are legend, as is Whiskeytown's penchant for a arts and all approach to composing and recording, that finally was put to the test by Jim Scott when he produced sophomore album Strangers' Almanac and demanded the band actually work on their craft.  

The first three tracks of This Damn Country Band pretty much capture the Whiskeytown universe all by themselves: "Take Your Guns To Town" is an uptempo gallop from the very early days of the band, showing the last vestiges of Adams' punk rock past and the closest Whiskeytown came to be aligned with the so-called cow punk groups. And then it's off to on a trip to "Mining Town", a fabulous little vignette, all atmosphere - greatly helped by Caitlin Cary's backing vocals - and with vocals that describe small town dead end ennui in a way that the Boss wouldn't have done better: "Said you came froma mining town / But they closed the mining down / Said your momma was a drinker / she had a picture of Jesus on her sink and / Baby, I....Baby, I'm coming for you tonight". And then track three, "Yesterday's News", puts the pedal to the metal with barely a hint of twang, but a lot of what sounds like another of Whiskeytown's influences, The Replacements, down to the slightly hoarse vocals and slashing lead guitar. 

Considering that Adams and Cary were the two holdouts throughout Whiskeytown's existence, they are considered the heart and soul of Whiskeytown, but I maintain that Whiskeytown were the great band they could be in almost equal measure due to the presence of lead guitar player and Adam's frenemy, Phil Wandscher. Without Wandscher, the band simply wasn't the same, and also somewhat ceased to be band, more of a Ryan Adams plus sidemen (and woman, with Cary) project. There's a reason why Pneumonia, the third and last Whiskeytown album is less present on This Damn Country Band, compared to the other two. Not only because Faithless Street and Stranger's Almanac were stronger records, but because they sound - band turmoil and band member turnover notwithstanding - like albums made by a band, whereas Pneumonia could never shake the impression of being a Ryan Adams solo album in all but name. So, for this comp, I chose Pneumonia songs which are the closest to real Whiskeytown songs, with co-writes and harmony vocals by Cary, with both "Don't Wanna Know Why" and "Easy Hearts" dating back to late 1997, when Whiskeytown had just been reconfigured. 

But back to Wandscher for a second. "16 Days" wouldn't be as great without Wandscher's backing vocals ("the ghost has got me running") answering Adams' lead that in turn mingles with Cary's harmony vocals. And the fact that he was Adams' foil - in guitar playing, but also in real life - gave the band during those years with him a checks-and-balance system. Wandscher was probably the least afraid of calling out Adams on his bullshit, which would end - no doubt aided and abetted by abundant alcohol and drugs - in the occasional fistfight. But musically, Wandscher would also end up being a wall for Adams' ideas to bounce off. Thus, This Damn Country Band is stacked with tracks from the Wandscher years, with a whooping fifteen out of tenty tracks drawn from Faithless Street, Strangers' Almanac and Rural Delivery, the double EP of early material the band had to give to local label Moodfood as a way to sign with (mid-) major Outpost Recordings, backed by the Geffen group. 

One of these wasn't published at the time: The otherwise absolutely fabulous "Lo-Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel" was presumably voted off Faithless Street because of its similarities to the title track, but damn, don't you get goosebumps when Adams and Cary harmonize and sing in unison "you said you wanna play country, but you're in a punk rock band". Besides the four Pneumonia tracks there is one other stray tracks that is Whiskeytown at their finest, though it comes from their later iteration: Recorded for the fabulous Gram Parsons tribute album Return Of The Grievous Angel, their version of "A Song For You" is simply outstanding, in my opinion besting Parsons' already great original. I voluntarily stayed away from the dozens of unreleased Whiskeytown tracks, as that is an entirely different can of worms. But don't worry, we'll get to those.

For now, 20 of the finest tracks from one of the finest bands to come out of the alt country/No Depression boom times of the mid-90s. But now that the long gestating of this comp is over, it'll be the start of a whole ton of Whiskeytown coming your way in the next months. Whether it's alts of their first two albums, a rarities sampler, outtakes presented as EPs or albums, or a mix of all of the above remains to be seen. There is such a boatload of stuff to wade through - and not all of it is great, but yeah, I'm ready for more adventures in Whiskeytown-land, and by proxy, so might you. So, as ever, enjoy the music and stay tuned...