Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe
Won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Gives an impression of life in coal country around the turn of the century; the same sort of milieu that spawned songs like "16 Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford. It's artsy fartsy music through and through, but I think it's very effective in its aims. The composer intended it as an exploration and tribute to American labor history.
Too Many Zooz
Saw these guys open for Coheed and Cambria and Primus this summer. It was a very confusing set, but I liked it a lot.
Short Ride In A Fast Machine by John Adams
Off the top of my head, I caught this Jazz group called Marbin at a local event (very small festival in a small city). I bought several of their CDs afterwards. Here is a random video.
Rego (00s singer/songwriter/americana group from illinois). From the Royal Arcade is a great album and After the War is probably my favorite song on it. Cant find either posted online anywhere but they should be on streaming services.
minerva lions (2010s indy group from new york). i guess they only released an EP and disappeared: https://minervalions.bandcamp.com/album/great-strides-priestess-queen
Goblin (70s italian prog rock). the entire il fantastico viaggio del bagarozzo mark is incredible.
Thank you for your recommendations, I have been enjoying them very much.
I recommend the album "Cosmic Frog" by S2cool. Funky indie album, I love it. I think maybe he is focusing on a band he is in, "Fictionist," although he also does writing for lots of other companies so not sure really...
Also "07" by The Chicken Chokers. Bluegrass/string band album, it's how I came to love bluegrass. These guys were active for a while in the New England area but I believe they have split and now some of them are playing in another band "Twang."
Finally, "Seara de Jazz cu Aura" by Aura Urziceanu. Romanian scatt jazz. I think she was pretty famous in Romania, but I have to take Wikipedia's word for it. She eventually had a career in the USA; she certainly toured with some big names but it's hard to tell if she was a success.
cool I'll check em out thanks
S.K.O.R. from Luxembourg, they had a brief episode of fame locally some 15 years ago, and then more or less disappeared.
Chris Smither's 19th album dropped last year.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m5juHHLewlTZVC2XvbjZH-HKvRFeJHa1c
Brandon can't dance, Mason proper, Jib Kidder, and Anna ash and the family tree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagmOKmhAd0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcfiXNRc_aA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8frL7dKBfU
Difficult to find Anna ash and the family tree, her solo stuff eclipsed it long ago.
La Commune : death metal, Parisian band, 34 monthly listeners on Spotify apparently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lC1KDPT5KI
I'm obviously biased cause I like what they do but they're really good imo
One of ten? The only musicians I know that are at that level, aren't putting anything out at all. They gig and not even that often.
Smaller scale, but not unavailable, try Chatham Rabbits. Americana, folk duo. Pretty big in those circles, but not so much outside of that.
There's gangstagrass, a hip-hop bluegrass fusion group. Incredible stuff. Not every track is a hit or anything, though they have had a couple. But they never manage to rise up beyond a mini following.
I know two bands from North Carolina that my cousin from Charlotte introduced me to. The one, Filth is just fucking sick. More up my alley than his, they do some really brutal stuff. Southern Hostility, as a track and an album is phenomenal.
The other, I'm not into as much, but my cousin has seen dozens of times, Acid FM, a kinda stoner/sludge metal trio. From what he says, they're better live than recorded.
It depends on how small you want, I guess. There's some moderately popular YouTube musicians that can barely make a living touring because they aren't big off of YouTube, and their fanbase is too spread out to ensure butts in seats. Best examples that I listen to are The Other Favorites and The Bygones, who share a member, both being duos. But they may be bigger than you want because they are very popular on YouTube.
There's stuff from "niche" genres like zydeco that are huge within that fan base, but you've never run across otherwise, like Boozoo Chavis was until he died. Clifton Chenier used to be like that, but he's been dead a long time now. Still plenty of recordings though. But there's living zydeco players at a similar level, like Dwayne Dopsie.
If you want obscure though, try Scruffy the Cat. I used to call them the worst band ever lol. Afaik, they aren't still playing, and I still don't like it, but I end up listening to my old tape I shoplifted as dumb kid every few years. I think they're labeled as cowpunk, or cowboy punk, or some such.
Ghoultown is a kind of horror punk mixed with western that I fucking love, but nobody else ever claims to know. Their "drink with the living dead" is fucking amazing.
If you want something that's more country rockish, the Ghost Hounds might do the job. They keep hovering just under big awareness for some reason. Check out "last train to nowhere".