No Depression Manhattan KS

No Depression

Uncle Tupelo

Rockville Records, 1990

REVIEW BY: Sean McCarthy

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/03/2005

Contrary to popular belief, No Depression didn't give birth to the alt-country movement.No more than did Nevermind start the grunge movement. But the album, createdby three bushy-haired, beer-drinking kids raised on punk with adeep appreciation of authentic country music, was good enough tohave a magazine named after it.

The term 'alt country' (or the more amusing 'y'allternative') isabout as vague as 'alternative.' Some define it was 'roots' music,or country music without the synthesizers or gloss that definedmainstream country music in the '90s. Others define 'alt-country'as music that's too country to get played on alternative radio andtoo rough to be played on mainstream country music stations.

Fortunately, No Depression is so good that neither definition comes intoplay. The album just simply…rocks. The opening track,"Graveyard Shift" has a chugging, pulverizing guitar riff that JayFarrar bounces around like a tennis ball against the side of agarage. Farrar's returns have been diminishing over the past fewyears. And unfortunately, he never sounded as urgent and ragged ashe did on this album. Bassist Jeff Tweedy has had much better lucksustaining his artistic relevance with Wilco, but after listeningto A Ghost Is Born, it's welcoming to hear him more concernedwith rocking out than making 12-minute arty statements of fuzzynoise.

Farrar did the majority of the songwriting on No Depression. Much of the album deals with Nebraska-era Springsteen tales of small town desperation,empty bottles and factory jobs. Tweedy takes songwriting creditsfor the longing "That Year," but his major coup comes with "ScreenDoor." The song focuses on a group of friends in a town whereescape seems impossible. At first, it sounds like a testament ofsmall town values, but the chorus "We don't care what happensoutside the screen door" is hardly an endorsement for ruralisolation.