March 16-20, 1992

Sound DNA

• Country
• Americana & Roots

• stripped-back
• earnest
• outlaw

About

The third Uncle Tupelo album was a departure for the band. Then still just a trio, Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and drummer Mike Heidorn had made their names mostly with noisy, corrosive country-punk. But in late 1991, another power trio changed the context of rock music entirely. In the wake of Nirvana's <i>Nevermind</i>, Uncle Tupelo decided the punkest thing to do would be to play unplugged. As the disc's title suggests, they spent all of five days in the studio, turning out stark updates of craggy old folk ballads and a handful of original songs that sound nearly indistinguishable from the traditional tunes. The result is an album of uncommon stillness and often haunting beauty, but hardly a feel-good affair. Attentive fans will note that <i>March</i> was produced by Peter Buck, whose own band acted on the urge to turn down just when grunge was heating up; in fact, R.E.M.'s <i>Automatic for the People</i>, like this disc, was released in October 1992. (The 2003 reissue of <i>March</i> added a fistful of bonus tracks, including three demos, a live version of "Moonshiner," and the original instrumental "Take My Word.")

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits