March 16-20 1992
After ripping it up onNo DepressionandStill Feel Gone, their first two albums of twangy punk rock, Uncle Tupelo unplugged for this remarkable tribute--half originals, half political and religious covers--to the band's old-time influences. While the new songs of frontmen Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy are consistently strong here (especially Farrar's "Grindstone"), it's the album's haunted covers of old folksongs that are the true keepers. Tweedy's apocalyptic version of "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" and Farrar's earnest readings of the beat-down "Moonshiner" and the labor song "Coalminers" are as frightening, beautiful, and passionate as anything the band ever recorded.--David Cantwell