No Depression
The album that named a movement (and a magazine),No Depressionrocks and twangs in just about equal measure, though the rock side wins out most of the time. Even when a song downshifts from full-on punk to banjo- and mandolin-graced interludes, it usually shifts back again, seemingly even louder and angrier than before. Beyond the influential sound, though, are some great songs--whether they're raging originals like "Graveyard Shift," where the job's literally a killer; an earnest, acoustic cover of the Carter Family's title track; or a decidedly desperate portrait of Leadbelly's "John Hardy."--David Cantwell