One of alt.country’s defining moments, this 1993 triumph offered strong hints of Uncle Tupelo’s offspring, Wilco and Son Volt. This expanded, remastered issue features five bonus tracks, including two live performances and the previously unreleased “Stay True” and “Wherever.”
Seminal alternative country band Uncle Tupelo was formed in 1987 in the Midwestern backwater of Belleville, Illinois, by high-school friends Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn. Their marriage of punk rock fury with the simplicity of American roots music ignited a major movement heralding rock’s return to traditional country origins.
After three albums Heidorn departed, drummer Ken Coomer signed on, and in 1993 the band released one final album, Anodyne, widely considered their definitive work. Recorded simply in an Austin studio, the disc reinterprets country, rock, and folk idioms with the compelling vision that was Uncle Tupelo’s own. After parting ways, Farrar formed Son Volt, and Tweedy and Coomer formed Wilco.