No Depression (studio album) by Uncle Tupelo

No Depression is the debut from Uncle Tupelo, which is Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn. This record is credited for creating an online community called alt-country and a publication that lifts its name directly from the title of this record. These young men clearly liked playing together. The playing is tight, and they take cues from the start-stops of Minutemen and the wall of guitars alternative rock pioneered by Husker Du. It's the weakest if their records, but it was an excellent launching point for their brief time together as a unit.

Track Pick: Whiskey Bottle

From VictorVale 09/28/2021 20:10

Grande disco, marco da década!

From Brad1770 09/22/2021 13:03

I do like me some Alt-Country, but not the soppy heartbroken cowboy Alt-Country style ( Ryan Adams ‘Heartbreaker’ excepted, Lyle Lovett, Gillian Welch etc) but rather the hard drinking, bar fighting bad boys Alt-Country style and that is why I love Uncle Tupelo and this album in particular

This is such a mature and assured release for a group so tender in years when it was first recorded (Tweety was 22 and Jay Ferrar 23 ) with themes of religion, separation depression and mortality just to touch the tip of the iceberg

In the Tweedy / Son Volt world nothing beats ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ but ‘No Depression’ runs a solid second, yes even over ‘Anodyne’ but that my friends is a story for another day

I keep on thinking of how this album sounds and how different it is, so I'm upgrading the rating to 90/100

Very weird country music, but not weird in a good way like some other albums I like. I guess its just too rough for me. I guess its good for the 90s

From buzzdainer 08/22/2016 21:37

Just to give a sense of what a great band Uncle Tupelo was, I rate their debut album the lowest out of their four releases, yet this was the album that spawned a fantastic magazine and a whole musical genre by its same name. (Actually the title comes from a Carter Family song Uncle Tupelo covered on this album, but with a sound uniquely their own.) Uncle Tupelo was definitely the right band for their moment in music history, bringing together what was great in both country music and grunge. The finest song here is probably the emotional "Whiskey Bottle," the band's emphatic answer to the question, "If people know drinking isn't good for them, why do they do it anyway?"