Top 10 Alt-country bands

The Gourds & Giant Sand (or Howe Gelb) are a couple I like

Admittedly, I'm not really much of a country music fan however I'm a fan of the Massachusetts band Beat Circus and their record 'Boy from Black Mountain' won the 9th Annual Independent Music Award for Best Alt/Country album in 2009. If your not familiar with Beat Circus, then I recommend that you give them a chance with this record.
Best.

Wilco Alt-country? Puh-leez.

While speaking of Hiss Golden Messenger, here is another HGM project out now http://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/golden-gunn

Thanks for all the responses. There are some great referrals in here. I think that this genre is hard to accurately define. I really enjoy old Marshall Tucker. Jolene and Jupiter Coyote are also excellent bands from the 90's. Chuck Prophet and Green on Red are fantastic. While they are countrified, I don't necessarily place them in the Alt-country world. Maybe alt-country is the catch all category carrying over the California sound of the Byrds when bands don't fit perfectly into rock and roll. Regardless of genre, there is some great original stuff here. I have ordered HGM and the Volebeats so far.