24 Alt-Country Songs To Check Out For Fall
By Serenna Zingg
11/13/25
Every indie fan has made fun of country music before; in fact, it should be a requirement to mockingly sing "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band in order to obtain ones’ indie fan certification. And, of course, a country song mentioning anything pertaining to the Fourth of July or casserole should be enough to be dismissed by the music fan community. But the season where it’s considered acceptable to be depressed instead a waste of the beautiful weather does lend itself to some of alternative country’s more self-respecting tunes penned by the likes of Wilco, Lucinda Williams, and Neko Case. Instead of free-wheelin' or hootin’ tootin’ tunes by modern country artists that feel a little too on the nose for summer kickbacks, we have lined up some of our favorite dreamy, moody-weather alternative country artists that might make you change your mind on Americana-inspired music engineered for fall, with a specific song that will perfectly introduce you to each artists’ universe - but instead of giving you six parallel wormholes into the same artist after, I’m giving you bridges to related works by other icons. This is your official permission to check out country music, signed off by the Paperblog Writers! Click on the album to read more.
Hopefully, these twenty-four songs don’t feel too disjointed when listened back-to-back. The goal wasn’t to overload you with 70% Willie Nelson and 30% Willie Nelson wannabes, but to show the surprising range in a genre that can sometimes feel same-old, same-old. When you put overwrought political commentary aside, alt-country can be surprisingly witty and self-aware - and once you stray from tunes engineered for southern summer hits (why can’t you just block an artist on Spotify like you can an influencer on Instagram?), the payoff is rich. The next time gloomy weather hits and you’ve worn out Radiohead or your favorite shoegaze records for the season, this playlist will be right there with you!