The Winding Sheet
The Winding Sheet is the debut studio album by alternative rock artist Mark Lanegan. It was released on May 1, 1990 on Sub Pop. The album was Lanegan's first solo work, and is notable in its departure from the characteristic sound of Screaming Trees, the band he fronted from 1985 until 2000. Background. While the work done in the Screaming Trees was much more energetic and fit into the burgeoning grunge genre of the late 80s/early 90s, "The Winding Sheet" has a much more stripped down sound, defining Lanegan's solo work largely for the  rest of the decade. As Lanegan recounts in his 2017 book "I Am the Wolf: Lyric and Writings", "Prior to this I had sometimes written words with the other members of my first band, or, more often, had tried to change their lyrics to fit me in a more personal way. This was a tedious, frustrating routine that was never enjoyable, and so "The Winding Sheet" became my first attempt at going it alone." Recording. The album was produced by Mike Johnson, who also co-wrote many of the songs, and Jack Endino. In "I Am the Wolf: Lyrics and  Writings", Lanegan recalls Endino "constantly assuring me that what we were doing was not terrible" and notes that the songs were "born of sadness and uncertainty with my circumstances at the time: relationships, money problems, alcohol, depression, addiction, and so on." Highlights include "Mockingbirds," "Ugly Sunday" and the haunting "Wild Flowers." On "Down in the Dark" good friend Kurt Cobain sings while on the folk classic "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" Cobain contributes guitar and vocals and Krist Novoselic plays bass. Nirvana would later also cover "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on their "Unplugged" album. Foo Fighters' frontman  and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl has called "The Winding Sheet" "one of the best albums of all time" and has said that it was a huge influence on Nirvana's 1993 MTV Unplugged concert. Notable music photographer Charles Peterson shot the cover image of Lanegan Track listing. All songs written by Mark Lanegan and Mike Johnson except as noted.