Castanets

I love decent alt country. Country in general is something I simply can't stand, living across from a ballroom when I was younger helped me develop a healthy detest of the irish 3 chord stetson wearing heros that mangled the countries music charts until the mid-80s. However, with Ryan Adams (early albums), Wilco (any album), Calexico and William E. Whitmore my eyes opened to superior string plucking and story telling.
I dont buy most of the "new weird america" scene, but one of the artist being tarred with that brush that I do like is Castanets, basically Raymond Raposa and available session musicians.
The sooperb Daytrotter have an exquisite session including an unreleased track. Castanets is signed to Sufjan Stevens Asmathic Kitty label, where you can pick up his albums, or pick up a label sampler for free on last.fm