One thing that Jay Farrar benefited from was being able to tap into the country roots that for a kid growing up at the time had never experienced at all. I actually thought he wrote No Depression at the time. You have to remember that a kid in high school in 1992 I thought country was Achy Breaky Heart. Gram Parsons, Doug Sahm, and the early country rock I don't think most people even knew it existed back 1992 it was no where to be found. Johnny Cash had to recreate himself with covers to become a name again. Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt and Wilco tapped into the heart of this lost American Music at the time.
I did this for the first time for Pearl Jam in Moline in 2014 (my brother drove up with me but his seat was elsewhere). Honestly, it was awesome -- just me and the music, no worries about how much other people are or aren't enjoying themselves, etc. Didn't hurt that that was the night they chose to play No Code in full out of nowhere!
Yay for this thread and thank you!! I first heard Uncle Tupelo on a music sampler from Stolichnaya Vodka called Stolar Tracks, Vol 1 back in 1992. It was quite excellent all the way through, but the UT track Wait Up struck me in a deep way. Fast forward just a few weeks and my brother sent me one of his cassette mixtapes, side one of which was the March 16-22 album. With, of course, Wait Up!! I was in love. I went backwards, then forward when Anodyne came out! I loved that album to death and I want badly a vinyl version of it. So I stayed with UT and then Wilco and Son Volt - but stuck with Wilco in a much deeper way - my whole family did. We are WILCO family and I have some great stories to share from that perspective. Coolio!!!!
I totally agree. I used to place Trace and A.M. in my CD changer and fantasize about them being the great lost Uncle Tupelo double album! I was gutted when UT broke up. I had missed out on two opportunities to see them on the Anodyne tour, including one of what would become their last string of shows. When they split up, I realized that I had truly missed my chance with UT. I guess that's why I jumped at the chance to see one of the earliest shows by Tweedy's new band. My first UT album was their third - the mostly covers one. I absolutely loved the instrumental "Sandusky" on that one. I had bought Anodyne on release and loved it unreservedly. The first two were punkier but, over time, I grew to love them as well to the point where Still Feel Gone is now probably my favorite UT album. Of course, Trace is brilliant and is still probably my favorite album out of ALL of the albums released by Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Wilco, Gob Iron, Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Tweedy, Loose Fur....have I missed any of the offshoots? I just think it is an unassailable masterpiece. Tweedy was never the natural singer than Farrar was, but his vocals did improve over the years and I find him quite emotionally expressive in a way that Farrar never really has been. His voice seems more malleable and able to serve differing styles of music; Farrar's 1930s Dust Bowl quality voice just seems a natural for the style of music he has largely stayed within since the demise of UT, but it doesn't seem very adaptable. I love them both and it always disappoints me when discussions about one turn into a battle over which one is "better" or has produced "better" work. I can't view it that way. I've seen Wilco many more times over the years, including a period when I was seeing them on every tour (up through The Whole Love period). Since then, I admit that my attention has gone elsewhere and I'm not as deeply familiar with their later catalog as I am with everything up through TWL. I last saw them two summers ago in Denver and was rather shocked to see how heavy Tweedy had gotten. He was literally twice as large a man as he had been the previous time I'd seen them play. I hope he's not still smoking; just makes me a little worried about his health. They were still very good, of course, but the magic wasn't there for me. Possibly the setting didn't help - an open air festival in a train yard near downtown. Not quite Red Rocks!
They just released a new pressing of Anodyne so you don't have to pay $100 for a copy. I had been waiting a long time also for it. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
Yes, Sandusky is quite a little tune. That part where the banjo and percussion comes in - that's one of my favorite all time UT moments (and musical moments!) I too get tired of the Farrar/Tweedy comparisons. I like em both. I think maybe I have enjoyed the more Jeff's adventurousness and that he's surrounded himself with some unique musicians. The last Wilco show I saw was for the Schmilco tour in LA. It was another great show. I've seen one bad Wilco show (out of many) and that was I guess the Being There tour at the El Rey Theater, maybe 1997. Jeff was out of his mind and a real jerk at that show. Antagonistic is the word. It was painful to watch (and listen to). Everything else has been from good to great to hugely memorable!
Thanks for doing this! I'll try to follow along and keep up... I first got into Wilco when I was in college, around 2002 or 2003. I randomly bought Summerteeth and was floored by it. I remember "Via Chicago" in particular blowing my mind. I followed that up with YHF and the rest is history. I didn't get a chance to see them live until the Star Wars tour. After that, I caught them twice during the Schmilco tour and once during the recent Ode to Joy tour. I also got to see Jeff at an intimate show after Warm came out. My top three Wilco albums are probably YHF, A Ghost is Born and Star Wars.
Have seen Wilco prob 6x, never have see Son Volt though I really like the first three albums ... that Austin City Limits show that went on DVD in the late 90's was great too
How could I have forgotten Golden Smog? Or Wilco & Billy Bragg? Or even Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard!
I was well aware of country roots music in the 80s and 90s. Steve Earle was pretty big and had that country/rock thing going and would often cite his influences such as Townes Van Zandt. Elvis Costello also put out King of America in 1986 which had a few songs that had country roots. I guess it depends on where you grew up and who your friends were. I hear what you are saying. It was still pretty unique at the time. I just don't believe Jay Farrar has mass appeal. I have personally never met someone who preferred his songs over Tweedy or preferred Son Volt over Wilco. I know these people exist! That's why discussions like this are good. I will now give a listen to some more of his music. I haven't heard a new Farrar album in over 20 years. I'm just saying that I don't think Uncle Tupelo would have become huge if they stayed together. Wilco appeals to a larger group of music fans since they branched out into many different genres of music. Uncle Tupelo could have also went that way, but that was Jay's band and Tweedy would have been stifled.
Don't forget (the flowers j/k) 7 Worlds Collide and The Minus 5 collaborations as well... this is gonna get fun!
Not that I am going to see any shows now...sigh...but I go see a good many shows alone/by myself. My first wife really did not like music all that much and did not enjoy shows. I had a number of friends who would go with me, but that sort of thinned out through the years and by the early 2000's, I'd say that around 3/4 of the shows I went to I'd go alone. My wife now loves music, we have pretty much the same music tastes (with a few exceptions) and loves going to shows so now I am down to the point where maybe 1/4 to 1/2 of the shows are "solo." I an out of town friend in Charlotte who goes to tons of shows and a lot of times I will drive up by myself and meet him there for a show. I travel - well I USED to travel a lot with work with some flexibility on when my trips would occur. I used this flexibility to go to a lot of Major League Baseball games (my other passion) so I got used to going to those by myself. It took a while. Eventually I started scheduling around concerts when I could see somebody I wanted to see and they were in a particular town - I saw Wilco on the Schmilco tour in Kansas City and the next to last show I saw "pre-pandemic" was Wilco in Louisville last fall. Like I said, it took me some time to get used to it and I still find it easier to go to a "seated" show alone as opposed to a general admission show. I love to immerse myself in a show - I like to get there early, listen to all the pre-show music, watch the opener and the breakdown/setup between acts and I find that doing that alone sometimes does make that easier.
Same for me to virtually all of this (excepting the first/second wife parts!). I go to a lot of baseball games alone - also to concerts, movies, etc. On the other hand, we're dudes and I can imagine that solo women attending some of these events - more likely at concerts, probably - end up having to deal with unwanted and/or drunken advances from guys. I'm sure that would reduce the appeal considerably, which is too bad.
Yes. My husband has certainly never wanted me to go to a concert alone. He went to a couple of shows with me that he had no interest in just because he didn't want me to go alone, the sweetheart. And he actually ended up enjoying the Fiona Apple show! Here's a very early (1989) clip of Uncle Tupelo from local media with a brief interview and some live footage. Jeff (and the drummer!) do most of the talking. I think Jay is just an awkward person. Jeff's not exactly David Lee Roth, but he is a bit more outgoing.
Now looks like the time to highlight Jay Bennett's first band Titanic Love Affair which released an album or two before AM came out. I don't really know much about the band but I eventually picked up / liked their debut enough to mention it here. Some critics unfairly compared them to the Replacements (Chris Mars did the back cover artwork so I guess they're an inspiration). I could only find a grainy promo video for Planet Strange online so here it is... Titanic Love Affair - Planet Strange
Love this song, but never got into any of the other tunes. I bought this album when it came out after hearing this tune! I didn’t realize the Bennett connection until years later.
Thanks for the thread! Somehow I missed the tag, but it was very thoughtful and I lucked into seeing the thread anyway. I've been a Wilco fanatic since 2002 when YHF was released. Before then, my favorite band was Pearl Jam, and I was a member of the old Five Horizons fan community. A member of that group was going on about how great the new Wilco album was, so I decided to buy it unheard; I'd already missed the period between labels when the band was streaming it for free on their website. It floored me. I quickly got the back catalog, and the rest is history. I've seen the band, and Tweedy solo, together probably almost 20 times. My office wall is covered in Wilco and Tweedy posters: 6/9/04; 2/23 and 2//24/05; Tweedy 11/12/05; 2/26 and 2/27/08, and my latest show, 11/8/19. Of course I've been to many more shows than that, but I don't always dig the posters. I took my five-year-old son to the November 2019 show in Charlottesville, and that was a trip to bring my son to a show by my favorite rock band for almost 20 years, that I started listening to in college. I mean, that's almost a surreal feeling to me. It was freezing that night, and he was too cold and too tired to make it more than about 10 songs in, but it's still one of my favorite show memories. Coincidentally, I'm wearing the t-shirt he wanted me to buy that night; it's a cartoon tiger, stretching with a serene look, the word WILCO spelled in his stripes. My first show was 10/14/02 at the 9:30 Club, during the short-lived quartet lineup after Bennett was fired, and this was on the YHF tour, of course. Mikael Jorgensen was actually playing with the band at this point, but he was off-stage, mostly just queuing prerecorded bits to fill-in the YHF material's arrangements. One minor correction to the first post of the thread: the current lineup, with Nels and Pat, has been in place since the 2004 tour to support A Ghost Is Born. I saw the fourth show of that tour, also at the 9:30 Club. The poster is gorgeous, a Heads of State design featuring the Washington Monument against a navy blue background, with a vine growing up around it. Now that I look at it again, it looks even more phallic than the obelisk usually does, with that vine coming out the top. I like Uncle Tupelo fine, but I'm not a Farrar fan, and coming from the YHF era and working my way backwards, it's Tweedy's songs that hold the most interest for me. I actually recently sold all my Uncle Tupelo vinyl records, though I regret it a bit. I had the anthology on Sundazed, and I always did like their cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog." If you've ever seen Wilco at the 9:30, Wolf Trap, Merriweather, the Sprint Pavilion (Charlottesville), William & Mary, The National (Richmond), or thereabouts: howdy! Good to see you again.
I’ll be in on this. I don’t particularly like Wilco, but I only own one album (wanna guess which it is?). I’m definitely a bigger fan of Uncle Tupelo. I am not overly fond of Son Volt, either, if I’m keeping things fair. I’ll be watching this one and might put some occasional comments in. @Parachute Woman is an extremely competent writer and a very knowledgeable music fan. I look forward to this. You guys and girls are in for a treat with her as your guide/curator.
Looks like we followed very similar paths! I was a reader of the Pearl Jam Five Horizons site as well, though I didn't post there (I was on some board elsewhere, can't remember the name of it). But I first saw the band on that Fall '02 YHF tour as well (in Champaign, IL), and then again at the same venue in '05 for A Ghost is Born. I saw them one other time after that, in 2013 on the Americanarama Tour with Bob Dylan and Richard Thompson. I've never quite reached fanatic status, but I definitely love the band's music and keep up on everything they release.
My older sister started college in the fall of '92 and she got me into Pearl Jam when I was ten. She was a Dead Head and big Phish fan, and she stopped going to shows entirely when her best friend died on a road trip to see Phish. Years later, I took her to her first shows since that tragedy, when Pearl Jam and Wilco played back to back nights in her town. I flew out with tickets for both of us. She danced in the aisle to Pearl Jam, after having worried that they wouldn't be jammy enough for her. She liked Wilco OK, but she thought Tweedy was a bit of a dick. I'd showed her I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, and she didn't like how he came across. In fairness, he probably was a bit of a dick in those days, pre-rehab and heavily drugged.
