A while back I mentioned that the music for David Sutherland’s The Farmer’s Wife was the mournful soundtrack that came to mind when I thought of Iowa. The most recent Sutherland film, Country Boys, was a bit disappointing, but the earlier’s splendor remains undiminished.

After listening to Neko Case quite a lot over the last couple days, I suspect that the entire alt-country genre is my mental soundtrack for the place where I lived for so long. When we saw Emmylou Harris in concert a few years back, she said she had always been in love with beautiful sad songs. I thought she had a corner on the market, but it seems there is more than enough there to drive Lisa crazy for many miles.

Poor Lisa.