Various Artists: Nashville, The Other Side Of The Alley: Insurgent Country Volume 3

People who insist that rock and roll is dead have little to complain about compared to fans of country, which has been offending purists with the stench of its putrefying corpse since about 1976. The boondocks Bon Jovi sludge that is power-country is one of the biggest abominations on FM radio today, and the people at Bloodshot Records and Diesel Only are taking action. Putting out a sampler of alternatives to modern country is an admirable concept, but the execution on Insurgent Country Volume 3 makes it only a middling triumph. Its 18 songs are all originals by modern, alternative-country folks, and while they've captured the sound and sometimes the feel of the classic songs of the '50s and '60s, most of them suffer from varying degrees of soullessness. Country entails more than just mentioning trains and whiskey and throwing in a pedal steel guitar, but aside from ex-Georgia Satellite Dan Baird and the venerable Jason & The Nashville Scorchers, nobody on this compilation seems to understand. Rig Rock Deluxe is a better record, not only because of bigger names like Son Volt and Steve Earle, but because all 16 songs are covers of classic trucker ballads. It's worth the money just to hear Son Volt's Jay Farrar belt out "Looking at the World Through a Windshield," one of the best 18-wheel ballads of all time. It's worth twice the price to hear Hee Haw superstar Buck Owens answer the musical question, "Will There Be Big Rigs In Heaven (When I Die)?" Hell, it's priceless—except for the fact that these are covers, after all. The spirit of country is still present, it's clear, but these compilations seem to indicate that a whole new body needs to be built before it's truly, gloriously alive again.