There's no question that alt-country existed long before the 1990s: Consider Neil Young's masterpiece Harvest, released in 1972, or the Mekons' Fear and Whiskey, Green on Red's Gas Food Lodging and Jason & the Scorchers' Lost & Found, all of which dropped in 1985. But while the genre is so hard to define, alt-country seemed to find its groove in the '90s, amidst the meteoric rise of grunge and alternative rock.

The launch of the Americana radio chart and the seminal journal No Depression in 1995 helped bring more attention to artists who would otherwise go unnoticed by the broader industry. Since the '90s, alt-country has only grown in its stature while becoming even harder to elucidate, though: The first Americana Music Festival & Conference was held in 2000, and 10 years later, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences created the Grammy Awards category of Best Americana Album.

While these are just a couple of examples of milestones that will forever stand as huge steps forward for music fans, they only add to the broadness of the genre. Is alternative country the same as Americana? Where do bluegrass and folk fit in? What makes alt-country truly alt? When words won't come close to doing justice to answering those questions, or even to defining the genre itself, we turn to the music.

If the '90s stand out as one of the most formative decades for alt-country, then there must be a catalog of songs from that time period that serve to define the genre. The pool of choices is wonderfully deep and wide, but we feel these 11 songs perfectly capture what makes alt-country so special. While you may not agree that every song deserves a spot on this list, we hope you'll agree that alt-country deserves its place cemented firmly in the history books.