Album of the Day

Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy rose to fame as founders of pioneering alt-country group Uncle Tupelo, which had three independent releases to its name before signing to Sire for ANODYNE. Cut in Austin, TX, with three new members in tow (and Tex-Mex master Doug Sahm joining in on his “Give Back the Key to My Heart”), the set is a live-in-studio recording that fuses rock energy and ambition with roots music traditions. As the cover photo suggests, it's a feast of stringed instrumentation both acoustic and electric, and the inspired playing is matched by terrific originals split evenly between Farrar and Tweedy, with “Acuff-Rose,” “Chickamauga,” “The Long Cut” and “Slate” among the highlights. Despite a successful tour and a Billboard Heatseekers listing for ANODYNE, the band splintered soon after its release, but the 1993 masterpiece has only grown in stature since then.