Farewell Milwaukee

It has been quite sometime since I have come across a new band in the alternative country genre, and it is clear to me that this sort of music's popularity has really trailed off since its peak in the middle 90's. However, alt-country remains one of my favorite types of music. For those of you who aren't quite sure what I'm talking about when I say "alt-country", I am talking about bands like Whiskeytown (featuring Ryan Adams who is probably the king of the genre), the Drive by Truckers, Uncle Tupelo, early Wilco, the Old 97's, Steve Earle, or the Gin Blossoms (there's one from the archives right?). All of these bands blend different amounts of traditional folk music, Americana, blues, bluegrass, and country with alternative and/or punk rock thus forming “alt-country”.

A couple weekends ago I was driving and thinking about all the alternative country bands I enjoy listening to and realized that some of those bands have been around for quite sometime and others have been gone for quite sometime. So who then are the new really good alt-country bands? For me, the answer to this question comes in two parts (like those multiple choice answers that a**hole professors gave you in college). The first half of the answer would be the Avett Brothers (my current favorite group far and away), who I’ve already written about; the second half might just be Farewell Milwaukee. *** let me note that these are two extremely different bands, both of which can be considered alt-country, although Farewell Milwaukee is alt-country in its more classic sense.

They haven’t been around for long, formed only about a year ago, but in that time Farewell Milwaukee has made a lot of noise. The musicians in the group are from different parts of the Midwest, but today call the Twin Cities their home. They pride themselves on their Midwestern roots, have no plans to leave for the coasts, and hope that their music will reflect their Midwestern ties (which it clearly does). Their debut album “Autumn Rest Easy” is nothing shot of stellar, the songs are just rock solid. The music gives one the warm yet sad feeling that all really good alternative country music elicits.

If you want to check them out I think the best way to do it is just by going to their website. They have a number of tracks from their new album that you can stream.

Enjoy, Ben.

Farewell Milwaukee

Here are a couple of vids that give you some insight on the band, as you can see things are just getting off the ground for them...