VA - Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 01-07 [1988-2025] + Bonus x 2 (9 x CDs)

AMERICANA

VA - Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 01-07 [1988-2025] + Bonus x 2 (9 x CDs)

The Sounds of the New West series, issued by Uncut magazine under the Uncut label, is one of the most enduring and culturally resonant compilation runs in modern music journalism. Spanning nine volumes from 1998 to 2025, including offshoots like Ambient Americana [2021] and The Class of 2016 [2016], the series charts the evolution of Americana from its alt-country roots to its current spectral, genre-blurring frontier.

The debut volume in 1998 was a landmark: a promo CD that introduced UK readers to the raw, literary grit of artists like Willard Grant Conspiracy, Lambchop, and The Handsome Family. It wasn’t just a sampler, it was a statement. Americana wasn’t a nostalgic throwback; it was a living, breathing counter-narrative to mainstream country. Volume 2 [2000] and Volume 3 [2002] expanded the scope, featuring Calexico, Emmylou Harris, and Silver Jews, and subtly shifting toward desert noir, folk-rock, and lo-fi psych.

By Volume 4 [2004], the series had become a trusted barometer for the genre’s emotional and sonic range. Then came a pause, until The Class of 2016 reignited the flame, spotlighting emerging voices like Anna Tivel and Jeffrey Martin. Volumes 5 through 7 (2020 to 2025) leaned into ambient textures, Appalachian folk, and outsider country, culminating in Volume 7’s eerie, experimental tone: Friendship’s “Betty Ford,” Shrunken Elvis’s ambient elegy, and Joseph Decosimo’s traditional lament all signal a genre unafraid to haunt its own mythologies.

Ambient Americana [2021] deserves special mention. Though not numbered, it’s spiritually aligned, offering a road trip through psychic state lines, where pedal steel meets drone and field recordings flicker like mirages.

Together, these discs form a unified archive, a curated emotional map of Americana’s haunted highways, shifting borders, and timeless ache. Cleanly mastered, editorially sharp, and culturally vital. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 01

01 Hazeldine - Tarmac 3:29

02 lying Burrito Brothers - Sin City 4:09

03 Josh Rouse - Suburban Sweetheart 2:48

04 Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball 4:19

05 Pernice Brothers - Crestfallen 3:31

06 Neal Casal - Today I'm Gonna Bleed 3:44

07 Kate Campbell - Crazy in Alabama 4:31

08 Willard Grant Conspiracy - Evening Mass 5:41

09 Wagon - Two Hours Alone 4:47

10 Freakwater - Lorraine 4:59

11 Vic Chesnutt - Until The Led 3:15

12 Calexico - Trigger 2:34

13 Handsome Family - Weightless Again 3:38

14 Lambchop - Saturday Option 4:24

15 Silver Jews - How to Rent A Room 3:01

16 Will Oldham - Apocalypse, No! 3:42

17 Sixteen Horsepower - Coal Black Horses 3:53

18 Walkabouts - On The Beach 4:32

19 Nadine - Dark Light 3:24

20 Emmylou Harris - Boulder to Birmingham (Live) 3:28

Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 02

01 Waco Brothers - Make Things Happen 4:21

02 Flying Burrito Bros - Dark End of The Street 3:49

03 Guthries - Season to Leave 6:25

04 Emmylou Harris - I Don't Want to Talk About it Now 4:47

05 Lou Ford - How Does it Feel? 4:00

06 Slaid Cleaves - Horseshoe Lounge 3:04

07 Shelby Lynne - Leavin' 3:13

08 Calexico - The Ballad of Cable Hogue 3:30

09 Bill Mallonee and Vigilantes of Love - Resplendent 5:03

10 Mayflies USA - Getting to The End of You 3:19

11 Merle Haggard - If I Could Only Fly 5:00

12 Handsome Family - So Much Wine 3:48

13 Caitlin Cary - Rosemary Moore 3:37

14 Willard Grant Conspiracy - Christmas in Nevada 3:15

15 Giant Sand - Raw 3:32

16 Allison Moorer - Think it Over 3:58

17 Ryan Adams feat. Emmylou Harris - Oh My Sweet Carolina 4:58

18 Lambchop - The Butcher Boy (Live) 8:11

Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 03

01 Lift to Experience - To Guard and to Guide You 5:25

02 Jolene - Break 5:06

03 Ryan Adams - Rescue Blues 3:38

04 Centro-Matic - To Unleash The Horses Now 3:51

05 Mary Gauthier - Our Lady of The Shooting Stars 3:29

06 Papa M - Beloved Woman 3:27

07 M. Ward - Archangel Tale 3:50

08 Alejandro Escovedo - Wave 5:27

09 Jay Farrar - Barstow 3:54

10 Lucinda Williams - Blue 3:54

11 Silver Jews - Horseleg Swastikas 3:22

12 Handsome Family - No One Fell Asleep Alone 2:47

13 Whiskeytown - What The Devil Wanted 3:39

14 Hamell on Trial - Judy 3:27

15 Kelly Joe Phelps - Tommy 5:26

16 Josh Rouse - Miracle 3:56

17 Jim White - Hey! You Going My Way??? 5:37

18 Gourds - Gin & Juice 6:58

Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 04

01 American Music Club - Another Morning 3:25

02 Josh Ritter - Wings 4:07

03 Jesse Malin - Mona Lisa 2:45

04 Jim White - Static on The Radio 6:32

05 Richmond Fontaine - Western Skyline 7:07

06 Giant Sand - Flying Around The Sun With Remarkable Speed 3:34

07 National - About Today 4:11

08 Iron and Wine - Free Until They Cut Me Down 4:37

09 Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - The Dreaming Dead 6:03

10 Papa M - Wedding Song No. 3 5:40

11 Sun Kil Moon - Carry Me Ohio 6:18

12 Ben Weaver - Voice in The Wilderness 5:40

13 Charlemagne - Prisoner Of 3:42

14 Jay Farrar - Feed Kill Chain 3:10

15 Explosions in The Sky - First Breath After Coma 9:40

Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 05

01 Jeremy Ivey - Diamonds Back to Coal 4:03

02 Erin Rae - Love Like Before 3:27

03 James Elkington - Ever-Roving Eye 4:41

04 Courtney Marie Andrews - Downtown Train 4:14

05 Drive-By Truckers - Armadeddon's Back in Town 3:50

06 Hayes Carll - I Will Stay 2:34

07 Kelsey Waldon - Anyhow 2:57

08 Saariselka - Void 4:40

09 Frankie Lee - Bad Love 4:27

10 Ohtis - Pervert Blood 2:23

11 Tyler Childers - Country Squire 3:20

12 Carson McHone - Don't You Think I Feel it Too 3:03

13 Bonny Light Horseman - The Roving 4:17

14 Ian Noe - Letter to Madeline 4:27

15 Gill Landry - Trouble Town 4:27

Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 06

01 Kassi Valazza - Watching Planes Go By 5:59

02 This Lonesome Paradise - Funeral Skies 3:13

03 Sunny War - No Reason 2:37

04 Doug Paisley - Say What You Like 2:47

05 Margo Cilker - Wine in The World 5:33

06 Hal Cannon - Thirty-Six Miles 2:59

07 Nikki Lane - Denim & Diamonds 3:12

08 Kyp Harness - Poverty Line 3:47

09 Schaefer Llana - The Great Pretender 3:27

10 Hermanos Gutiérrez - El Bueno Y El Malo 3:25

11 Angelica Rockne - Age of The Voyeur 3:17

12 Plains - Abilene 3:03

13 Collapsing Stars - Pay Your Last Respects 3:24

14 Allison Russell - Nightflyer 4:51

15 Setting - Night Divers 8:09

Uncut, Sounds of the New West Vol. 07

01 Friendship - Betty Ford 4:23

02 Case Oats - Bitter Root Lake 4:16

03 Eve Adams - Death Valley Forever 4:13

04 Horsebath - Hard to Love 4:38

05 Souled American - Sorry State 3:34

06 Eli Winter - Black Iris on a Burning Quilt 7:37

07 Slow Motion Cowboys - Invisible Stars 3:20

08 Anna Tivel - Airplane to Nowhere 3:14

09 Wednesday - Pick Up That Knife 4:18

10 Shrunken Elvis - An Old Outlet 7:48

11 Julianna Riolino - Seed 4:32

12 Florry - Big Something 4:02

13 Sally Anne Morgan - Eye is the First 4:14

14 Jeffrey Martin - Edge of Lost 4:00

15 Joseph Decosimo - Glory in the Meetinghouse 4:00

BONUS VA - Uncut Sounds Of The New West, The Class Of 2016 [2016]

01 Karl Blau - That's How I Got to Memphis 4:04

02 Margo Price - Desperate & Depressed 3:29

03 Jason Isbell - To A Band That I Loved 3:53

04 Courtney Marie Andrews - How Quickly Your Heart Mends 3:47

05 Doug Paisley feat. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Until I Find You 5:35

06 Drive-By Truckers - Surrender Under Protest 3:51

07 Hurray for The Riff Raff - Everybody Knows (For Trayvon Martin) 3:20

08 Deslondes - Tres Grand Serpent 2:40

09 Nathan Bowles - Gadarene Fugue 4:52

10 Joan Shelley - Cost of The Cold 3:51

11 Hiss Golden Messenger - Happy Day (Sister My Sister) 5:29

12 Frazey Ford - September Fields (Acoustic Version) 3:33

13 Shovels & Rope - I Know 3:40

14 Sturgill Simpson - Just Let Go 2:30

15 William Tyler - Whole New Dude 13:10

BONUS VA - Uncut, Ambient Americana [2021]

01 SUSS - Drift 5:27

02 Steve Gunn - Way Out Weather 6:17

03 William Tyler - FourCorners 4:02

04 Mary Lattimore - Sometimes He's in My Dreams 3:43

05 North Americans - American Dipper 3:54

06 Andrew Tutle - Hilliard Creek, Finucane Road 4:14

07 Marielle V Jakobsons - Star Core 6:41

08 Michael Chapman - Caddo Lake 5:53

09 Luke Schneider - Exspirio 1:56

10 Barry Walker Jr - Shoulda Zenith 7:00

11 Field Works - The Scars of Recent History 2:08

12 Mike Cooper - Paumalu 6:21

13 Sarah Louise - Your Dreams (Single Version) 2:59

14 Dean McPhee - The Alder Tree 6:39

15 Chuck Johnson - Constellation 6:48

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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