Centerstage - Chicago's Original City Guide

Rissi Palmer highlights Saturday's Country Music Fest lineup.

"I listen to everything. Except country."

This ubiquitous statement is worn like a badge of honor by iPod-toting hipsters as a means to distance themselves from the Nascar-watching, Wal-Mart-shopping, perpetually tailgating masses of rural America. And while the statement is meant to demonstrate discerning and superior taste in music, the obnoxious and depressingly narrow-minded sentiment is skimming out some of America's best tunes. I rock 'n' roll as much as the next gal, but when desert-island time hits, give me Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and Gram Parsons to while away the days. For those self-proclaimed "haters" of country music, here's all you need to know about baby-stepping your way to enlightenment at this weekend's Chicago Country Music Festival:

Love singer/songwriters but can't stand domestic beer?
Sidle up to Justin Townes Earle's 4 p.m. Saturday set on the Americana Stage. Son of communist Nashville crooner, Steve Earle, and named for his pop's musical hero (Earle has been famously quoted as saying, "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world — and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say so"), this kid had a lot of living up to do from the onset. But when his debut, The Good Life, was released earlier this year, all doubts drifted away as his rootsy narratives unfurled. Strumming folk in the vein of Woody Guthrie, with a light veneer of rock, Justin is a gateway drug to the long tradition of country troubadours.

Lady's got pipes
Certain things go hand-in-hand with country music: domestic beer, rhinestone jackets, and lyrics about heartbreak — but African-American chanteuses? Not so much. Rissi Palmer's 2007 single, "Country Girl," made her the first African-American women to break the country charts in two decades — but it's not just her skin-tone that's turning heads: Palmer's voice rings like a clarion call back to the greats of country music — Patsy Cline, Connie Francis, Dolly Parton — but oozes with enough soul for occasional crossovers into R&B territory. Earlier this year, Palmer's countrified version of "No Air" (a hit originally performed by R&B staples Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown) broke the Top 50 and converted even more casual boot-stompers to country music fandom. (3 p.m., Saturday, Main Stage)

Want some indie royalty with your whiskey back?
Whisper Uncle Tupelo to any Chicago hipster, and you'll get a lengthy history lesson about Jeff Tweedy's life before Wilco. As one of the founding bands of alternative country, Uncle Tupelo did more than its part to bridge the gap between indie rock and Appalachia, and when Tweedy moved onto a little group named Wilco, guitarist Jay Farrar toted his six-string to Son Volt — an inspired and accessible band that manages to strut the territory between Neil Young, early '90s grunge and post-punk. (8:30 p.m., Saturday, Americana Stage).