25 years ago today (7/29/97) Whiskeytown released its second album Strangers Almanac. Before it became cool to sound like you were from Nashville and have a twang peppered in your indie rock presentation, Whiskeytown was doing this before most anyone. With groups like The Jayhawks, Bottle Rockets, Wilco, and Son Volt, they all helped lead a true Alt-country scene in the late 90s where heartland soul met with Replacements pop fury.
Whiskeytown, led by Ryan Adams, Caitlin Cary and Phil Wanscherand; the North Carolina band released three albums before Adams went on to a prolific solo career. Strangers Almanac was the strongest of the three and contained ringers like “Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight,” (feat Alejandro Escovedo) and the contagious rocker “16 days”. Check out “House on the Hill” from the album played at ACL in 1998
