In 1994, when major labels were still snapping up Chicago “alternative” bands in hopes of manufacturing another Seattle, music publicist Nan Warshaw, house painter and occasional drummer Rob Miller, and Flying Fish Records veteran Eric Babcock launched Bloodshot Records—which quickly became a rallying point for the burgeoning alt-country scene. Bloodshot’s debut, the compilation For a Life of Sin, collected 17 tracks from acts including the Old 97’s, the Handsome Family, and Robbie Fulks. Mixing country and punk wasn’t new; the likes of Rank and File, the Jayhawks, and Charlie Pickett had been doing it for years. But Bloodshot coined the term “insurgent country” to describe that hybrid style, positioning it as a revolution against the mainstream treacle trickling out of Nashville.
Nan Warshaw: And there wasn’t critical language at the time around what we were doing. And so we needed to come up with our own term that we could define. But it became a straitjacket, that’s for sure. Afterwards.
What, because it was too straight?
Rob: Oh yeah, I was way into all that stuff before. Our record collections are huge and diverse, but when we started we felt that we had to form an identity. There were so many things bubbling up during that era that in order to distinguish ourselves we had to keep some sort of sonic and aesthetic focus that was much more narrowly defined than it is now.
Do you make money from that? Or is it more just to satisfy that niche?
Sat 1/10, 7 PM Metro $21 18+
