It has to be intimidating – building a legacy. The shadow that Uncle Tupelo has cast across the alt.country genre for the past 20 years is an enormous one, no matter what your opinion about their music. It’s Jay Farrar who seems to have lived most in the wake of his former band, at least [...]

Next Thursday, July 16th, Aquarium Drunkard presents Son Volt and Cowboy Junkies live at The Wiltern in L.A.  Son Volt are touring behind American Central Dust their new LP released last week on Rounder Records. We are giving away a bunch of pairs of tickets to AD readers.  To land a pair, hit up the [...]

There’s no doubt about Jay Farrar’s legacy in modern music. As a co-founding member of one of its genre-defining bands, Uncle Tupelo, and then as the creator behind one of its certifiable masterpieces, Son Volt’s Trace, his body of work ranks among the finest in contemporary country and rock and roll. His unique voice and [...]

In comparing an original song to a cover, it usually makes sense to discuss the qualities that defined the original in relation to how the cover treats the material.   But so many of us obtain knowledge of a song in the backwards way – cover first – that it can be just as insightful [...]

No Depression magazine, an alt.country/americana staple, announced yesterday that it will – after 74 issues, and 13 years in existence – be ceasing operations this Spring. June will see the final issue of the magazine and existing subscribers can expect a refund. Excerpt below: “(The) circumstances are both complicated and painfully simple. The simple answer [...]