Recommended for Americana Fans: Amanda Ann Platt and the Honeycutters

Just read an interview with Amanda Ann Platt. She described her music as "rock -tinged Country". 

So much for me knowing what Americana is!  

@stuartk: Your comment about mine regarding Americana and the South had me reconsider the matter. Perhaps instead of using the term Southern, "rural" is more of what I'm taking about.

I've thought in terms of Southern for a number of reasons, first and foremost because that part of the U.S.A. is after all where the Hillbilly, Rockabilly, Bluegrass, and Blues first fermented. Also because when I started meeting and being around some musicians from the South, I noticed that they not only spoke English differently than do we Northerners, Westerners, and Easterners, but they also even walk differently. And when I played music with some (Bill Pitcock IV from The Dwight Twilley Band, Evan Johns), they played with a feel very different from what I was accustomed too, being a California boy.

But now that I think about it, one problem I have with the younger, Alt-Country guys is that they play in a way that feels very much of what I call "suburban". I grew up in and started playing in San Jose, California, which is not really a city, but rather one big suburb, very much like the San Fernando Valley of Southern California (San Jose is in the Santa Clara Valley). Not a city, and not at all rural. I have for years viewed The Swampers as the prime example of the Southern feel in music, but perhaps their style and feel are a result of the rural influence, not the Southern.

In a related matter, whenever the subject of the "best" American songwriters, singers, and musicians comes up, many consider Canadians not eligible for consideration (no Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, or The Band?!). I disagree. Canada is, after all, part of North America. Close enough, ay? And now that the stable genius has declared he wants to make Canada the 51st state, perhaps the matter is moot. 

@bdp24 

Perhaps instead of using the term Southern, "rural" is more of what I'm taking about.

Sure. Makes sense to me.

Considering that list, the idea that Canadians should not be included is beyond absurd. 

I will restrain myself (with difficulty) from heading down the  road ! 

Shania Twain might want to have a word of Canada and country. 

(before the 51st state fairy tale)

btw to my ears Amanda Ann Platt is country not, Americana.

@grislybutter

Did you see my comment about how she defined her sound? "Rock-tinged Country".

I hear quite a bit of Rock influence in her music and she has pointed out that Tom Petty and Springsteen are as important to her sound as Classic Country. Having recently bought and listened extensively to three of her CDs, I’d argue there is also an element of Folk present. Yes, some of it sounds more Country than anything else, but the lyrics are more sophisticated than most Country (avoiding the cliches so enamored by Country songwriters) and furthermore, display a notably introspective quality that tends to couch situations in shades of gray, rather than black and white. It’s here, in the lyric writing, that I detect a Folk or singer-songwriter influence. That said, I’m no longer sure it is Americana. In fact, the more I’ve thought about it, the less sure I am about what exactly constitutes Americana.

What’s your definition? I'm confused by your mention of Shania Twain. What I've heard by her is stylistically, writing-wise and production-wise, a very long way from Roots genres.