As soon as I read the title to this thread, I knew it would be full of ultra win. And it is. Off the top of my head, I'd suggest these artists/bands:
- Lucero. One of my favorite bands at the moment. Their album Tennessee might be in my top 10, if not definitely top 20. Their singers voice is whisky soaked, and the guitars are super twangy. Their most recent album is also very good, but also a little more Springsteen influenced, which is still good in my case. The singer (Ben Nichols) just released a solo album too, which is more folksy than Lucero.
- Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine Former singer for punk group Hot Water Music. Some songs are just him and an acoustic guitar, other songs feature a banjo or fiddle. He also has another album out with Austin Lucas called Bristle Ridge that unfortunately I don't have, but sounds even more country/folksy than Feast.
- Chris Wollard & the Ship Thieves - Also a former singer for Hot Water Music, this is probably least country thing here
I think someone suggested Limbeck earlier. They're like a pop-punk approach to alt-country. I only own their album Hi Everything's Great, but I like it, its a fun album.
If you're a fan of At the Drive-In or Sparta, Jim Ward had an alt-country side project called Sleepercar. I don't remember if their album West Texas is any good, but I can't find it, so sorry about that.
I'm sure there's other stuff I'm missing, but it's late and I had a busy day. If you only get one thing from this post, get Tennessee or Feast or Famine. They both are probably in the MF thread (the second is definitely there, as I put it there a few months ago).