Blue Mountain - Dog Days LP

While Blue Mountain never gained the same degree of semi-fame as their alt-country contemporaries like the Jayhawks, Uncle Tupelo, and Whiskeytown, they were regarded by many educated observers as one of the best acts on the alt-country scene, and Dog Days shows why -- they could write, sing, and play with passion and street smarts, and every song on this album hits its target dead on. It's a minor masterpiece of the genre, an overlooked near-classic which brilliantly encapsulates the alt-country genre.