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Those prejudices all depends on your definition of country though, and Strange Country is as strong testament to this as Strange Folk was for those who pictured beardy weirdies, finger firmly placed in ear and muttering tunelessly, when they think of folk.

This isn’t macho man and wilderness boasting country nor is it self-flagelating beer and buxom blue-eyed temptresses who leave a man crying into aforementioned beer country. When you pool Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Calexico and Puerto Muerto alongside Hank Williams and Willie Nelson it suddenly takes on the more paletable guise of Americana, and all of a sudden it’s okay to listen to it. It’s emotional and gutwrenching sure, but it showcases some of the finest voices coming out of America.

There are fine singers aplenty here, and it’s difficult to reconcile the image of those rednecks in The Blues Brothers with the French chanteuse on Calexico’s ‘Ballad of Cable Hogue’ or the touching and sparse arrangement of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Grey DeLisle.

This is a compilation of dark tunes: Gram Rabbit’s ‘Dirty Horse’ is chilling and sober, whereas Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan’s aching ‘Black Mountain’ would have fitted right in with Strange Folk.

Musical snobbery is difficult to avoid and maybe Strange Country is not that different from the sort of country I was thinking of earlier after all. Beneath the barely veiled threats of ‘Muetro County’, the sentimentalism of Gene Clarke’s ‘In a Misty Morning’ the psychedelia of M Ward’s ‘Outta My Head’ there is an aching, lonely quality that reaches back to the origins of country.

Tracklisting:
1. Ballad Of Cable Hogue- Calexico
2. So Much Wine- The Handsome Family
3. The Rubber Room- Porter Wagoner
4. Dirty Horse- Gram Rabbit
5. Black Mountain- Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
6. Beneath The Rose- Micah P. Hinson
7. In A Misty Morning- Gene Clark
8. Outta My Head- M. Ward
9. Crush In The Ghetto- Jolie Holland
10. Spirit Ditch- Sparklehorse
11. Train Under Water- Bright Eyes
12. Shiver- Giant Sand
13. The Long Black Veil- Johnny Cash [Live]
14. Bohemian Rhapsody- Grey DeLisle
15. Rock Bottom Riser- Smog
16. Time Of The Preacher- Willie Nelson
17. Muerto County- Puerto Muerto
18. Ramblin’ Man- Hank Williams