The revolution in roots-rock that began in the late 1980s in Chicago with Souled American and Uncle Tupelo continued in the 1990s and began a new genre altogether. Those bands had rediscovered country and folk music for the hardcore generation: their descendants dumped hardcore for the most spartan and traditional of sounds.

Uncle Tupelo bred two offshoots. Jay Farrar's Son Volt were mostly a vehicle for their leader's philosophizing: Trace (1995) was a concept album that analyzed the collective subconscious of the people of the Mississippi river. Jeff Tweedy's Wilco (3) expanded Uncle Tupelo's vocabulary towards the Byrds' folk-rock, Neil Young's mournful ballads, the Rolling Stones' drunk rhythm'n'blues, the Band's domestic gospel-rock, Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde and Big Star's baroque pop on their second album, Being There (1996). Jay Bennett's keyboards helped pen arrangements that left their roots way behind. Summer Teeth (1999), the natural evolution of that idea, was thus a studio product that relied heavily on electronic sounds, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), their most experimental album, was a majestic nonsense of eccentric arrangements, skewed melodies and lyrical meditations that bridged the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Radiohead's OK Computer while also delivering a very poignant meaning.

Kentucky's Will Oldham (1), who also recorded under the monikers Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music, Palace and Bonnie Prince Billy, virtually jumpstarted the "alt-country" movement with There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You (1993), an album that displayed the qualities of independent alternative rock while playing old-fashioned country music. Oldham's acoustic folk was not terribly emotional: Days In The Wake (1994) was perhaps his most personal statement.

The acoustic revival spread to Kentucky, where Freakwater had been already active. A collaboration between Eleventh Dream Day's drummer Janet Bean and Catherine Ann Irwin, two singer/songwriters who seemed little concerned with the alternative/avantgarde rock of their time, Freakwater began in the vein of primitive folk music but evolved with Old Paint (1995) to deliver a bleak vision of humankind in a stark, neutral style.

Alt-country, or (from Uncle Tupelo's classic album) "no-depression folk", ruled the second half of the decade, and influenced even bands that had little to do with the acoustic revival. Notable albums of the time were: Tales Of Brave Ida (1994), by New York's Ida (the songwriting duo of Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell); Milk And Scissors (1996), by Chicago's Handsome Family; Egg Fusion (1996), by Kentucky's Retsin, i.e. songwriters Tara Jane O'Neil and Cynthia Lynn Nelson; Dog Days (1995), by Mississippi's Blue Mountain; Let Me Bring You Down (1996), by Two Dollar Guitar (the project of Jad Fair's associate Tim Foljhan); etc.

North Carolina's Whiskeytown (1), a punkier Uncle Tupelo (or a countryfied Replacements) that relied on the combined talents of Vocalist Ryan Adams, violinist Caitlin Cary and guitarist Mike Daly, penned perhaps the best of the batch, Strangers Almanac (1997),

Los Angeles' Grant Lee Buffalo (1), led by Shiva Burlesque's guitarist Grant Lee Phillips, penned Fuzzy (1993), whose style was power-pop that sounded like folk music, an odd hybrid of American Music Club, Woody Guthrie and Big Star.

Seattle's Citizens' Utilities (1), on the other hand, crafted a baroque form of country-rock, relying on three-part vocal harmonies as much as on tension-filled dynamics and eccentric instrumental touches, with Lost And Foundered (1996), No More Medicine (1997), their most poignant work, and Sunbreak (1999).

Boston's Scud Mountain Boys were almost slo-core on Massachusetts (1996), but vocalist Joe Pernice later formed Pernice Brothers and turned to pop orchestration on Overcome By Happiness (1998).

Boston's Willard Grant Conspiracy (1) played elegant, evocative and melancholy country music on the introspective monolith 3am Sunday @ Fortune Otto's (1996) that evolved into the solemn and depressed ballads of Mojave (1999), which often sounded like Chris Isaak interpreting Neil Young's Harvest or Bob Dylan's Knocking On Heaven's Door.

The alt-country movement spawned singer-songwriters such as Chicago's Robbie Fulks, with Country Love Songs (1996); and Tennessee's Josh Rouse, with Dressed Up Like Nebraska (1998).

Chamber Folk

In the mid 1990s a new evolution of roots-rock led to a form of "chamber folk", a folk/country style that employed an expanded instrumentation and loitered at the border between noise-rock and post-rock.

Tennessee's Lambchop (11) can be credited with proving the viability of the idea. The pieces on I Hope You're Sitting Down (1994) were artful disguises of a gentle and downbeat minstrel (guitarist/frontman Kurt Wagner) in a maze of keyboards, horns and strings. The music was more often funereal than exuberant, and the atmosphere was the equivalent of "film noir" in a Nashville setting. How I Quit Smoking (1996) was a more private affair, but still wrapped in arrangements that were pastoral, neoclassical, nostalgic, dreamy. If sometimes Lambchop's albums sacrificed substance for elegance and occasionally veered into a bland hybrid of country and soul balladry, ever more formidable ensembles helped to craft the rock opera Nixon (2000) and collections such as Damaged (2006) that were poetic but formulaic, austere but diluted, gentle but superficial, transcendental but mundane: this intermediate state became the metaphysical location of Wagner's art. As Wagner's skills as an arranger matured, the most effective instrument on his crowded songs became his rough voice, simply because it was the ultimate antithetic sound to the gentle symphony that lay underneath.

Nebraska's Lullaby For The Working Class (11), led by vocalist/guitarist Ted Stevens and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis, used an arsenal of acoustic instruments to pen fragile, post-modernist folk songs that expanded on Palace Brothers' melancholy alt-country concept. The sounds of the instruments were scattered like ambient sounds on Blanket Warm (1996), turning each song into an impressionistic painting. The sound of I Never Even Asked For Light (1997) was sleepy and abstract, often hypnotic, as it lulled elusive melodies in a sea of warm tones; and Song (1999) further reduced the pace, plunging in a serene slumber. The effect fell halfway between Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Hindemith's kammermusik.

Los Angeles' Geraldine Fibbers (2), fronted by former Ethyl Meatplow's vocalist Carla Bozulich, bridged the gap with urban culture in the desolate, hyper-realistic stories of Lost Somewhere The Earth And My Home (1995). The subversive power-pop of Butch (1997), featuring jazz guitarist Nels Cline, embedded rootsy melodies into alien structures.

Chicago's Pinetop Seven (1), Darren Richard's project, specialized in majestic and post-apocalyptic ballads arranged in a sophisticated style encompassing a wide range of settings, especially on their third album Bringing Home The Last Great Strike (2000).

Ohio's Mysteries Of Life, featuring Antenna's rhythm section of Jacob Smith and Freda Boner, offered another imitation of Van Morrison's neoclassical folk-soul with Keep A Secret (1996).

Quite unique was the baroque, new-age sound of Louisiana's Subdudes.

Country-rock

Modern country-rock was best represented by Detroit's Volebeats (1), whose eclectic and schizophrenic style, that incorporated surf music, world music, Ennio Morricone and many other influences, was best immortalized on their fourth album Solitude (2000).

Ohio's Ass Ponys (1) concocted one of the most original variants on country-rock on Mr Superlove (1990), that was rustic in principle but afflicted by urban neurosis in practice.

Boston's Blood Oranges fused bluegrass and grunge on The Crying Tree (1994).

Colorado's Sixteen Horsepower (1) attacked the sonic icons of America's rural traditions (whether Louisiana's zydeco or Kentucky's bluegrass) from the vintage point of California's "acid" folk-rock on Sackcloth & Ashes (1996); and the painstakingly orchestrated elegies of Low Estate (1997) shifted the focus towards David Eugene Edwards' noble empathy.

Among the works that renovated the country style with the impetus and eccentricity of alternative rock were: Bottle Rockets (1993), by Missouri's Bottle Rockets; Toreador Of Love (1993), by Oregon's Hazel, featuring guitarist Peter Krebs; Play Cell (1994), by San Francisco's Tilt; For The Sake Of Argument (1995), by Kentucky's Stranglmartin; The Medicine Is All Gone (1998), by Idaho's Caustic Resin; Too Far To Care (1997), the third album by Texas' Old 97's.

At the same time, cow-punks mutated into something even weirder. Chicago's New Duncan Imperials applied Bonzo Dog Band's aesthetics to the country and blues tradition on Hanky Panky Party Voo (1990); Pennsylvania's Strapping Fieldhands applied the Holy Modal Rounders aesthetics (atonal guitars and grotesque vocals) to Appalachian folk music on Discus (1994).

The Grifters (11), the project of Tennessee songwriters Scott Taylor and David Shouse, were the terrorists of alt-country: So Happy Together (1992) was to roots-music what Sonic Youth's noise-rock had been to classic rock, a barbaric psycho-industrial bacchanal that rarely coalesced, a merry-go-round of drunk vocals, atonal guitars and erratic rhythms. Just a bit less grotesque and abrasive, One Sock Missing (1993) still evoked the specters of Captain Beefheart, Red Crayola and Pussy Galore. A better structured and bluesier approach surfaced on Crappin' You Negative (1994) and the EP Eureka (1995) achieved a synthesis of sort, offering "tunes" that were both catchy and demonic. Not surprisingly, Ain't My Lookout (1996) and Full Blown Possession (1997) ended up sounding like the Rolling Stones.

Ohio's Moviola struck a balance between country-pop and heavily-distorted acid-rock on The Year You Were Born (1996).

Punk-rock and bluegrass were fused by Bad Livers in Ohio, for example on the intimidating Hogs On The Highway (1997); by Split Lip Rayfield in Kansas, for example on the grotesque In The Mud (1999); and by Blue Rags in North Carolina.

Folk-rock

Several San Francisco-based groups significantly updated the folk-rock canon: X-Tal, with Reason Is 6/7 Of Treason (1990), Harm Farm, with Spawn (1990). Bedlam Rovers, best on Wallow (1993), Tarnation, with Gentle Creatures (1995). Best of this batch were Swell (1), who derailed the archaic structures of blues and country music with extravagant dynamics and arrangements. Swell (1991) and especially Well? (1993) were festivals of the irregular, coupled with existential lyrics.

But the most successful were the Counting Crows, whose style on August And Everything After (1993) was a humbler take on classic roots-rock (Van Morrison-ian vocals, Byrds-ian guitar jangle and gospel organ a` la Band)

Cracker (1), led by former Camper Van Beethoven's vocalist David Lowery, unleashed the virulent roots-rock of Kerosene Hat (1993).

Sacramento's Cake toyed with country, blues, tex-mex, funk, reggae and salsa stereotypes dressing them up on Motorcade Generosity (1994) with quirky arrangements and an eclectic sense of humour that evoked Camper Van Beethoven and Primus.

Third Eye Blind looked for a middle path between hard-rock and folk-rock on Third Eye Blind (1997).

A South Carolina band, Hootie & The Blowfish, which debuted with the charming Cracked Rear View (1994), was responsible with the Counting Crows for the continuing popularity of folk-rock. They were also the first rock band fronted by a black vocalist (Darius Rucker) to attain mainstream success.

Louisiana's Better Than Ezra (1), led by Kevin Griffin, attained a higher standard of philosophical depth with Deluxe (1995).

Other folk-rock acts included Boston's Wheat (1), with the graceful, melancholy folk-rock of Medeiros (1997) and Hope And Adams (1999), Los Angeles' Wallflowers, with Bringing Down The Horse (1996), and Ohio's Appalachian Death Ride (1), with Appalachian Death Ride (1996) and especially the visceral, anthemic Hobo's Codebook (2003). The New York-based Tower Recordings collective (including Tim Barnes and Pat Gubler) harked back to English pagan folk on albums such as Furniture Music For Evening Shuttles (1998).

Soul-rock

Southern blues-rock was still alive and kicking, and actually staged a powerful comeback with Georgia's Black Crowes (1), whose tasty imitation of the Rolling Stones and the Faces (but more soul-rock than blues-rock) on Shake Your Money Maker (1990) was briefly a sensation.

British folk-rock

Folk-rock in England had never died, but had certainly gotten close to utter insignificance with generic acts such as Levellers and Bluetones. At the turn of the decade, Fire & Ice's baroque Runa (1996) and Scott 4's hip-hop tinged Recorded In State LP (1998) helped revitalize the genre.

An original variant of roots-rock was experimented by Gomez on Bring It On (1998), an album that relied on studio-production technique more than on traditional songwriting.

Scotland boasted much more original purveyors of folk-rock. Belle And Sebastian (2), one of the leading bands of the second half of the decade, rediscovered Donovan's gently whispering vocals, and his naive blend of melodic and poetic elements. Tigermilk (1996) focused on the intense pathos of low-key tunes, an apparent oxymoron that Stuart Murdoch's recitation and necolassical arrangements with piano, flute, harpsichord and cello (Isobel Campbell) turned into a new form of art. His fragile, modest style acquired a shimmering look and feel on If You're Feeling Sinister (1997). Many more instruments contributed to the magic of The Boy With The Arab Strap (1998) and Fold Your Hands Child (2000), but the lush arrangements rarely interfered with Murdoch's heart-wrenching lullabies.

Appendix Out, the project of singer songwriter Ali Roberts, focused on elegant and cadaveric music for dramatic meditations on the spartan The Rye Bears A Poison (1997) and on the more seductive Daylight Saving (1999), a marvel of discrete chamber arrangements.

Arab Strap, the project of vocalist Aidan Moffat and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton, indulged in the moody and disorienting atmospheres of Philophobia (1998).

The Corrs, an Irish group, were by far the most commercially successful folk-rock act of the decade, but hardly an artistic event.

Pan-ethnic music

World-music got more and more sophisticated, but fewer and fewer artists offered original ideas. Notable among creative works that used ethnic styles were Rapid (1997), by Hungary's Kampec Dolores, Mlah (1990), by the French acoustic mini-orchestra Les Negresses Vertes, Allegria (1990), by French combo the Gypsy Kings, Phydair (1992), by Belgium's Raksha Mancham, Monostress 225L (1992), by French steel band Les Tambours Du Bronx, and The Rhythm Of The Ritual (1994), by Belgium's Hybryds.

Perhaps the most creative world-music ensemble in the world was the Polish ensemble Atman (2), whose Personal Forest (1993) and Tradition (1999) were collages of surreal blends of Eastern and Western music, in the vein of the Third Ear Band and the Incredible String Band. Atman's multi-instrumentalist Marek Styczynski and vocalist Anna Nacher started a new project, Projekt Karpaty Magiczne, or Magic Carpathians Project, devoted to an ambient, cosmic, jazz version of Atman's pan-ethnic music on Ethnocore II (2001).

One of the effects of globalization was that traditional ethnic music was being rapidly abandoned by the new generations for modern USA-style pop ballads or melodic rock music. The biggest stars in both China and India were singers of original material modeled after USA's pop melodies (and often set to electronic rhythms). Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East were perhaps the areas that best incorporated the traditional instruments and rhythms. However, globalization was creating a more and more uniform musical landscape across the globe. For example, Chinese superstar Han Hong, a Tibetan female singer who debuted on album in 1983, sang pop ballads over western rhythms. Even traditional songs and "classical" music were often performed with string orchestra and drums. Basically, ethnic music as such was rapidly disappearing and being replaced by music rooted in western ideas of melody, harmony and rhythm.

In Brazil, Vinicius Cantuaria, influenced by the American new wave, offered a personal synthesis of "Tropicalia", mellow jazz and soul music on Sol Na Cara (1997) and Tucuma (1999).

A young singer from Colombia, Shakira Mebarak, became one of the best-sold Latin artists of all times first with Donde Est n los Ladrones? (1998) and then with Laundry Service (2001), both characterized by a sprightly fusion of Latin, Arab and rock music, as well as by her guttural singing. The stylistic melange progressed from the relatively earthly Whenever Wherever (2001) to La Tortura (2005) to the sophisticated rhythmic collage of Hips Don't Lie (2006).