Uncle Tupelo – No Depression

What a soulful song that just cries out Americana… this alt-country band hits the spot.

Many 1990s alternative rock bands credit No Depression, and Uncle Tupelo as one of the biggest sources of inspiration behind what each of them tried to be. This song is a cover of a song by the Carter Family back in 1936. Uncle Tupelo based their version off the New Lost City Ramblers version that was called No Depression in Heaven. It was written by Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter. 

No Depression was also the name of their debut album released in 1990. It was recorded for an independent record label named Rockville. It’s been considered one of the most important alt-country records ever recorded. They did it on a tiny $3500 budget.

Jay Farrar formed Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn in 1987. They continued until 1994 when Farrar and Tweedy couldn’t work with each other anymore. Personally…I can hear the Jayhawks and other alt-country bands in this. They were only recording from 1989 through 1993 but made a huge mark.

Spin Magazine listed the album at #63 in their rankings of the Top 90 Albums of the 90s.

Jay Farrar:  “I first heard it on an old folk compilation that I dug out of my mom’s record collection, I think that version was by the New Lost City Ramblers. It just seemed like the sentiment of the song seemed to fit our surroundings.”

Jay Farrar: “That’s something I learned later on from Woody Guthrie, he talks about how people pay more attention if you sing about topical issues. I guess that was what we were trying to do, in our own way. We were trying to encapsulate what we were seeing around us and put it into music.”

No Depression

Fear the hearts of men are failing
These our latter days we know
The great depression now is spreading
God’s word declared it would be so

I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there

In this dark hour, midnight nearing
The tribulation time will come
The storms will hurl the midnight fear
And sweep lost millions to their doom

I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there

I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

26 thoughts on “Uncle Tupelo – No Depression”

  2. Great rendition! Since I “discovered” Son Volt a few years ago, one of the bands that came out of Uncle Tupelo, I’ve come to dig Jay Farrar. I pretty much like anything by him I’ve heard thus far. I just dig his vocals and his musical style, which sometimes is reminiscent of Neil Young, and you know how I feel about Neil! 🙂

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    1. I’ve always liked Tweedy as well…they made a good songwriting team while it lasted.
      Oh yea…I love their sound. I’ve been listening to them, Jayhawks and a few others.

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  3. New Lost City Ramblers…now THAT brings back memories. My brother was a folkie in NYC around 1960. He moved back here and played along with New Lost City Ramblers and Flatt and Scruggs records. I remember watching him put on his finger picks, as we shared a room in the basement. (He still has that WW II era Gibson he played back then.)

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    1. What a scene that must have been back then in Greenwich Village.
      Fingerpicks…One day…I want to learn how to play with those…it’s so much you can do with those that you can’t with just a pick.

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  4. Good song and sound. I borrowed that album from the library up north many years ago not long after finding out about Wilco. Quite liked it, though it was easy to see why it hadn’t been a huge hit. Back then I’d never even heard the term ‘Americana’, it was just sort of rootsy country-rock, reminiscent of what Blue Rodeo were doing at home. This song/album ended up being the namesake for the publication on that style of music.
    Running a tad late on my posts today, but soon

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    1. It was close to Blue Rodeo and to be truthful…The Band had this sort of stuff also. I’ve been listening to this album on Spotify and yea it’s great. Around this time you had many great bands like Blue Rodeo, The Jayhawks, and others…I just wish it would have caught on more.
      NO problem Dave…I just got back from church and I’m just now replying.

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  5. Other than a couple tunes I really don’t know much about Uncle Tupelo but I saved that playlist to Spotify to listen later. “No Depression” it seems is known to your readers, no big surprise there! There are a lot of great covers of that song that has played an important role.

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    1. I knew the song in passing by a few artists. I heard this version with some alternative music friends I know… A lot of good alt-country came out of the late eighties and early nineties… The Jayhawks were good at that as well.

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    1. Yea man I’ve been listening to their debut for a while now…those voices got to me. They don’t harmonize perfect which makes it even better. I’m glad both of them continued in something else. I know more about Tweedy.

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      1. I lived with this music throughout. Wilco got a bit more exposure (I think) but Son Volt is very good. I still hear Uncle in both. We were talking about their cover of ‘I Wanna Be You Dog’ a while ago.

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  8. Went to them after hearing A.M. by Wilco. In retrospect so influential but Uncle Tupelo seemed a throwback then, not a flagbearer of a new genre. I’ve enjoyed Wilco for a while now though nothings really grabbed me from the last two albums. Wilco’s earlier 90s era were Country/rockish. Uh, I can’t think of the term…

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      2. It’s right up my alley with this alt country… and I never heard of them before but I’ll look them up! This is really good and it sounds like close to the same time period. Thank you!

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  10. Americana, indeed! The early and 1990 covers are both terrific. Love the thinner vocals and tinnier twang of the Ramblers, though the depth of the Uncle Tupelo version gives it a nice warmth.

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