Alt. Country is alive and well and sunning itself in Italy.
If you’re going to write about americana music in Italy the logical place to start is with Stefano ‘Stiv’ Cantarelli and his great band, Satellite Inn.
Satellite Inn made people sit up and take notice when Mood Food Records signed them to replace Ryan Adam’s Whiskeytown, following their departure from the label back in the mid 1990s. Sadly, it didn’t work out for the band long term and, following the demise of the label, the band went their separate ways, with Cantarelli carving out a career for himself, both solo and with his band The Silent Strangers. The original Satellite Inn, Stiv, along with bassist Fabrizio Gramellini and drummer Antonio Perugini, recently reunited, releasing a new, eponymous album and playing live dates in the UK in November 2024, so I wanted to find out what Stiv thinks about the Italian americana scene. “Americana fans in Italy are a limited number but they’re probably the most dedicated fans of them all. It has something to do with age I suppose, but they make things happen. When we started our fans were more into the punk-alternative rock scene but today I guess we could appeal to anybody who loves classic rock with an edge for the American traditions and their roots planted in the golden age of post ’77 contemporary music. Where I live (Florence in Tuscany, but I’m originally from the east coast, in Romagna) the community it’s very small. Since the bulk of the Americana events happen in the North of Italy most of the people prefer to travel there to follow the scene instead of start something in their own area. The only popular americana artist in Italy, from North to South, is Springsteen. That said, there’s an increasing number of artists and bands that include Italy in their touring routes since the mid ‘80s, when the Paisley Underground reached its peak. Today, almost all the best American bands that play in the UK are usually playing also over here, although it may be just for a handful of gigs as the audience, in numbers, are not comparable with the ones in the UK or countries like the Netherlands and Germany, everything is scaled down.”
Italian americana bands are notable for being quite punchy. The Italian scene really links to the alt. country movement that came in the wake of punk and spawned bands like The Blasters, Jason and the Scorchers and, of course, Whiskeytown. The rock and roll side of the genre seems to be very much to the fore in Italy. Marco Diamantini, frontman for the band Cheap Wine, lists his influences as including Neil Young, Green on Red, Tom Waits, Graham Parker and Bob Dylan, but insists that the band are not americana. “I think we are a rock band. I don’t consider Cheap Wine a part of the americana genre”. Clearly influenced by the Paisley Underground movement, (even their name is taken from a Green On Red song), the five-piece band from Pesaro have recorded covers of songs by Dylan, Springsteen, Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt, alongside their own compositions, in a career that has spanned some 27 years and produced 14 albums. While they consider themselves to be a rock band first and foremost, with some justification, you can clearly hear the americana influence in much of their music.
Less reticent to be seen as an americana artist is one of the newer names on the Italian scene, Ellen River. “I usually define my music as americana, I think it’s the perfect definition to explain a broader range of music, from rock to country, from blues to soul and folk. It’s a wonderful way to be open to a lot of influences, it’s not like being confined inside a box, but it’s a chance to be pervaded by many genres and to be free to express your inner voice. I truly love americana music, it had a big impact in my life. I started defining my music this way also because people approached me saying my music sounded like American artists’ music.”
Ellen River is an artist to watch out for. 2023 saw the release of an adventurous double album, “Life”, her second recording as a solo artist, and in 2024 she followed up by opening for Lucinda Williams (in Chiara) and Joan Osborne (in Modena) on their European tours.
Also embracing the americana tag is Anglo-Italian singer Edward Abbiati, with his band The Rattling Chains. With songs like ‘Judgement Day’ and ‘Three Chords and the Truth’ there’s a hint of outlaw country in their music, so it’s not surprising to see Steve Earle listed among his influences, along with Jeff Tweedy and Ryan Adams. Born in the UK, to an English mother and an Italian father, the family split its time between the UK, France and Italy. He was lucky enough to be living in Shepherds Bush in the 1990s, spending a lot of time in Harlesden’s Mean Fiddler and in central London’s much missed Borderline, soaking up the music being played in these iconic venues that did so much to establish the americana sound in the UK. Unfortunately, he feels the americana scene is not as strong in Italy as it used to be. “I’ve been living in Italy for the past 20 years, and it seems like Americana was more popular here just before I arrived. Italy had a strong club circuit, and nearly every notable artist passed through, from Texas songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, Joe Ely, Steve Earle. People like Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, bands like Wilco, Son Volt, Ryan Adams have all been here. Also, smaller but brilliant acts like Rod Picott, Marah, Magnolia Electric Co. all came through. While there’s still a dedicated audience, post-COVID we’re seeing fewer clubs and a drop in enthusiasm for the live music scene overall. Lately, I have started to see certain euro tours skipping Italy. It’s a shame.”
It is sad if Italy is not getting the attention from international acts that it has been used to, but this past activity does help to explain why the americana scene seems stronger in Italy than in some neighbouring European countries and, perhaps, fewer touring American acts might provide opportunities for locally grown talent to gain more attention. As Stiv Cantarelli notes, there are big similarities in the way American and Italian musicians approach the business of taking their music on the road. “In the rural area where I and my bandmates grew up the local music was a danceable Italian pre-war orchestral folk called “Liscio”. Over the decades it created the best touring musicians Italy has ever had. That relentless will to be on the road, to treat your music like a job (even if it was not, as we all had day jobs), to stop in any place you could and play your gig like it’s the last, well… I know that life on the road, it’s another true American myth, but I guess we inherited it from them, the orchestra guys that were so popular in our area when I was a boy. I guess that my passion for being in a band was born there.”
It’s easy to think of Cantarelli as the originator of Italian americana but, while Satellite Inn might be Italy’s first band in the genre to get international attention, there is one Italian band who have been ploughing the roots music furrow since the end of the ‘70s. Mandolin Brothers, fronted by Alessandro “Jimmy” Ragazon, started out back in September 1979, as an acoustic country blues duo, before going electric in 1981 and adding bass and drums. In fact, the group remained more of a blues band until the early 90s, when some lineup changes and the introduction of a keyboard player, along with the incorporation of traditional Italian instruments, the accordion and mandolin, brought a turn to a wider palette of roots music (mandolin had been used in the original duo, hence the name, but was dropped when the band went electric). Their sound is very reminiscent of the music you hear around Texas and Louisiana and the borders with Mexico, incorporating that Tex/Mex influence along with the R&B that creeps into much of the music that comes out of Louisiana. It’s music made for having a good time.
2025 will see the band release a new album, the seventh of their lengthy career (though they didn’t make their recording debut until 2001), and they’re still touring extensively and drawing good crowds. How does Jimmy see the band’s audience? “Our audience is predominantly over 40 years of age, from average cultured to very cultured in the field of English and American music, literature and movies. But lately, some young people seem to be interested in our kind of music and this gives us hope”. This brings us to the big question of just how much Italian culture impacts on the music bands like Mandolin Brothers make, given that they’re basing their music on American roots music. “Naturally, we are Italian and even unconsciously we have been influenced by our musical tradition. Even though we grew up first with the “British Invasion” and then with the various American currents such as, for example, Blues, West Coast, Southern Rock and even Country Music, in our songs you can often find that melodic vein characteristic of our culture. We also often use accordion and mandolin, two typical Italian instruments”.
Ellen River’s response to that question was similar. “My music is definitely influenced by my own culture, my country runs through my veins, the place I was born, the air and water, the ground beneath my feet, the people I met, all of these elements made me the person I am today. Here in Italy,
especially in my region Emilia Romagna, we have a traditional musical genre called Liscio, there are similarities between this genre and country music for example. We have so many things in common, speaking of rural landscapes, county fair tradition, wonders of nature and so on. We also have a long tradition of great singer-songwriters that can be compared to American folk singers. I choose to sing in English because it comes naturally to me, but the songs I write and that I sing reflect my life and the places I come from”. Marco Diamantini simply stated that, “My music is very influenced by my own culture, especially my lyrics.” Echoing a view we’ve seen from other countries, where the musical influence might come from americana but lyrically inspiration is drawn more from the local culture than from the American influence. Stiv Cantarelli sums this dichotomy up particularly well. “Music, it’s 100% an emotional affair, and I always thought that Europeans and Americans have two way too different ways of life (for good or bad, I’m not picking a side) and that makes a lot of difference on the way you write a song, a poem, a novel. The dynamics are different, the words to use are different. And since lyrics are very important, more so than in other genres, more than any kind of music you play, in americana music, you could hear the differences. It’s something that could be someway learned but not truly made your own. I’ve struggled all my career to make my music sound, if not very true, as honest as possible to the original “template”. Still, it’s a learning game”
I wanted to know, given that Satellite Inn are back together again and touring, how he sees the future of this music in Europe. What is it that has kept him on this path, despite the setbacks, and is he optimistic for the future? “When I found that Alt.Country was the best way to express myself through music, I always looked to the U.S. as a promised land. To me, everything I needed to progress my music was there, and when MoodFood wanted us to replace Whiskeytown in their roster, I thought I was right. Anyway, meeting and sharing music and playing with great American bands made me discover that most of them were seeing Europe the same way I saw the U.S., because of the people and the fans, so I tried to follow the same path. When I returned to Italy after moving from Boston in 2001, Satellite Inn started to tour with bands like Richmond Fontaine and Willard Grant Conspiracy throughout Europe. And I can definitely say, having been around the European americana scene for the last 20 years, that everything grew up a lot. The clubs, the crowd, the attention media now gives to these kinds of bands, even if they’re not American, and this growth meant a lot to me and to my idea of where the real promised land was. And that was even before I ever put a boot in the UK, that to me is the most challenging and rewarding americana scene in the whole world. It’s hard, there are so many great bands that you have to prove you belong every single time, but it’s very satisfying when you do. I’m not sure I ever came close to getting there but somehow, I managed to be happy about my path. So yeah, U.S. are still the main reference but the European Scene and European fans are the real deal”. Stiv’s thoughts about the fans is something that Ellen River wholeheartedly agrees with, seeing her fans as passionate and dedicated to the music, something that gives her hope for the future of this music in her country, “There has been an increasing interest toward Americana music lately, but I cannot say it’s popular, definitely not. There is a niche of people that deeply love this genre though”.
It seems appropriate to let Edward Abbiati have the last word from Italy, partly because of his kind words about this webzine but, mostly, simply because of what he says. His is a cautious optimism for the future of European americana but it’s a sentiment that many seem to share here in continental Europe. There’s a lot of great americana and americana influenced music being made in these countries, and it just needs to be given a chance.
“There may still be some bias against European bands playing americana; many americana festivals don’t feature bands from mainland Europe, which is unfortunate. My name, Edward, makes me a foreigner here in Italy, but my surname, Abbiati, makes me a foreigner in other countries. I feel that music should transcend borders, and it often does. At Americana UK, we have always been judged by the tunes and the albums we recorded. Let’s give the music and the bands a chance, independently of where they come from. John Fogerty wasn’t born in the bayou and Johnny Cash never shot a man in Reno, still their music shines beyond latitudes and longitudes. A lot of great music was made just left of the dial, one street removed from music row, the press was always instrumental in shining a light on that music. Maybe we can look forward to something like that here”.
