Putting The "Spin" on Americana
The latest issue of Spin gives a big boost to the Americana scene, including a cover story about Mumford & Sons under the heading “The New Americana Revolution.”
“It’s a sign of the times,” states Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association, which has been promoting the music for ten years. “It’s definitely a fast growing genre.”
Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers agrees, telling Spin, “I feel like in the past decade, this thing has been swelling.” Avett was interviewed for the “Meet the New Stars of Americana” story, which highlights his band as well as Old Crow Medicine Show, Those Darlins, the Civil Wars, and more.
Writer Amanda Petrusich explains the genre and its growing presence, noting that popular Mumford & Sons aren’t even American:
In music, it’s a catch-all term for songs that are influenced, in part, by the indigent, rural, acoustic traditions (namely blues, bluegrass, country, and old-time) of the American South. It’s populist, minimally produced, rowdy, and sincere. It’s also enjoying an unexpected commercial and cultural renaissance, particularly among the indie-rock set….
Indeed, more than any single musical thread, the idea uniting these bands is their joint pursuit of Americana “feeling” — a warm-and-friendly guilelessness that’s been largely absent from the pop landscape for years (and from indie rock almost forever).
