This enjoyable and enlightening 14-song compilation sheds much-needed light on alternative country--both the music and term itself--and includes few, if any, weaknesses. As the notes explain, Uprooted highlights alt-country"s notable artists and also displays the breadth of the genre, which has come to include any country-flavored music that is not contemporary Nashville swill. You"ll find Earlesque roots-rock (Kevin Gordon), straight-up Hank (Wayne Hancock) or Hag (Dale Watson), delicate folk (Tom Russell and Iris DeMent), Texas prairie music (Don Walser), chimey country-pop (Ana Egge), brooding rock (Trish Murphy), contemporary bluegrass (Gwil Owen), outlaw (Libbi Bosworth), and progressive singer-songwriter (R.B. Morris). Paul Burch"s superb "Jackson, TN" seems to owe as much to Roy Acuff as anyone else. Kelly Willis, a major-label refugee, enlists the support of acoustic Son Volt; meanwhile, Robbie Fulks, a major-label newcomer in 1998, recalls Nashville"s prime with slippery vocal twang and unadorned lyrics. --Marc Greilsamer