[Tiger Beer]

For whatever reason, when I associate Americana music and alt-country with cities like Omaha, Minneapolis, etc.. The midwest as well as parts of the south like Raleigh, Austin, etc.

Would you classify Omaha as one of those capitals of the genre? If not, where would you put it? If not, what kind of music do you feel that Omaha leans towards?

[iamjacobm]

Omaha is an "Indie" music town through and through. The "Omaha Sound" has been written about across the country. Omaha is known for Bright Eyes, Cursive and The Faint more than any country acts. The music scene is twice that of cities twice the size of Omaha. It is really good for my music tastes!

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by iamjacobm

Omaha is an "Indie" music town through and through. The "Omaha Sound" has been written about across the country. Omaha is known for Bright Eyes, Cursive and The Faint more than any country acts. The music scene is twice that of cities twice the size of Omaha. It is really good for my music tastes!

Damn, just youtubed 'Bright Eyes'. Love their music!

Sounds like a great scene in Omaha nontheless!

[harshbarj]

Country is big in Omaha, just not big for country bands.
Indie music is a generic term for bands not affiliated with a label. Most bands in Omaha tend to be Indie rock with some hardcore and metal mixed in.

Sokal Underground is the best place to get a feel for music in Omaha
Home
Bands that play there do tend more to the metal side of rock. Not a lot of non rock music get played here.

[HandBanana]

Omaha is big on WalMart Nu-Country.
Which is fine, but its not really country.
It's just ****ty 80's pop made by *******s in cowboy hats with fiddles sometimes in the mix.
Ironically, the indie kids probably listen to more real country music than the self-professed country fans do.

[McBain II]

Omaha is more of a rock and jazz city. Obviously you have 311 heading up that list, being one of the main founding groups of the rap/reggae/funk/fusion, then behind them you have the indie bands that Jacob mentioned. I can't really recall any big name country acts to come out of Omaha.

[iamjacobm]

Like mentioned the popular country is the arena acts. Those sell out nearly every time they come to Omaha, but you will be hard pressed to find decent smaller country acts coming from or stopping in Omaha. There is a good folk scene that has popped up in the past year and a half, but no one has really blown me away from that movement yet.

To be fair the bands I mentioned were making their marks on the industry more than 10 years ago. They are all well established and have toured the country multiple times by now. They still support Omaha and the music here greatly though.

The next big thing to come out of Omaha on the indie rock scene will be Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship. They were recently featured on Rolling Stone's hype monitor. The are an awesome band that is a little lo-fi and is very guitar heavy. They are going as far as New Mexico on this latest tour so they are beginning to break through.

It's True is a band I thought could become the biggest thing out of Omaha since Bright Eyes, but they have families and just enjoy making music so they take it slow. They played at SXSW in 2010 they were chosen to have one of the best 100 songs and that is out of 1,000 bands. They have some of the best stuff this city has fostered in a while.

[laserdisque]

Many of the indie bands from Omaha have that alt-country/americana twinge to them. Gus and Call, Bear Country, Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies, Midwest Dilemma, Sara Benck and The Robbers, and Anonymous American would all fall under this category. I would certainly say that Omaha has carried the alt-country torch for a while know. FYI, alt-country = "Alternative Country", not crappy arena country.