Our Latest Release Out Tomorrow:
No Depression? Sounds like the tagline to an ad for a new wonder drug. But the potently titled 1990 debut album by Uncle Tupelo, had nothing to do with an instant chemical solution, rather a cure… a rip-roaring parade of country punk. This supercharged young trio – with guitarist Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and bassist Jay Farrar (Son Volt) joined by Mike Heidorn on drums – had a burning desire to forge a distinctive style that paid its dues in the earnest hard luck themes, and sound, of traditional country, but infused with the blistering guitars and energies of punk rock.
The primeval power of their premiere record would go on to christen a wave of restless, ragged country-fired rock. Lee Zimmerman in Blurt Magazine writes "There are any number of landmark albums that critics are quick to label as essential, but given the fact No Depression jumpstarted an entire genre, none deserve that label more” while Jason Ankeny at All Music says the work “kick-started a revolution which reverberated throughout the American underground.”
On The Brighter Side: A 25th Anniversary Tribute To Uncle Tupelo’s No Depression a select few of the best artists in Alt Country and Indie Rock bring their talents together to re-imagine the album a quarter century later: The Last Bison, Bodies of Water, Big Sky Blue, Wooden Sky, Peculiar Pretzelmen, Elliott BROOD, Crow Moses, Leeroy Stagger, Smoking Popes, David Stuart, Mikaela Davis, Cheap Girls, and Beta Radio.
“Like Springsteen’s Nebraska before it in the early ‘80s, an inspiration for both Farrar and Tweedy, the lyrics of No Depression speak to the hard knock life of the American blue-collar worker of the early ‘90s” says producer Jim Sampas. “A few of the recordings on this new collection offer softer, more acoustic qualities, than the original, perhaps an attempt to lend more focus to the lyrics. Still others underscore Uncle Tupelo’s more rebellious aspirations, updating and restructuring the band’s raucous, freewheeling, sound.
“These fresh perspectives serve to illustrate why the original album had such an impact, and still stands up today. It’s not solely the revolutionary punk meets country esthetic that has drawn legions of musicians to their work over the years. It’s the enduring strength of the songwriting these gifted young men fashioned while struggling in middle America.”
