When was the first time you heard Jay

dratmiller
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2003 5:05 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

first time

Post by dratmiller »

As strange as it sounds, I can't recall the first time I heard Jay. I do recall vividly, however, the first time I heard Trace. I had bought a lot of CD's off eBay and Trace was in the batch. I put it on and I don't think it left my CD player for the next several weeks. I didn't have a CD player in the car, so I taped it and played the cassette in the car. I have a 40 minute commute to work each way, so I could listen to Trace all the way through two times a day!!! Once I finally absorbed that album, I bought everything else I could get my hands on that was even remotely related to Jay Farrar/Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Wilco/Jeff Tweedy. I love it all, but nothing really touches that initial reaction I had to Trace.

DS mentioned the old WKDF and 102.9 (now The Buzz) in his post. I've lived in the Nashville area all my life and I"ve NEVER heard any Son Volt played on the radio. I guess I just missed it. Nashville radio has a (well-deserved) reputation for being extremely lame. If only I had known!!!

rgk
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2003 6:18 am
Location: Vermont

Post by rgk »

i read this article in Option magazine, in maybe 93? around the time that anodyne came out. "Give me back the key to my heart" was on their compilation cd. For some reason I knew I would love this band..or at least they seemed intriging. Not sure why, as I had never listened to anything remotely twangy in my life. Anyway, one day a few days later, I was listening to the U Conn radio station and they were giving away tickets to see UT at Toad's Place in New Haven. It was before cell phones were big at the time. I for some reason got off at the next exit, found a pay phone and called in and got the tickets. I went to the concert where there were only like 20 people there, but had the best time of my life...........I have been hooked since.

County Line
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Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 12:49 am
Location: Bayou City, TX

Post by County Line »

Early 1994 I was living on Guam with a few friends from college. One of the guys, from St. Louis, imported Anodyne through amazon and he told me how UT played St. Louis quite a bit but had just split after releasing this record. Being on the opposite end of the Pacific, being just-out-of-college-poor, eating cereal nearly every meal, drinking insanely cheap Primo Beer from Hawaii, thousands of miles away from the midwest, and the sounds of Anodyne never failed to take me right back home. My St. Louis buddy gave me a copy of March, which I stashed away when I packed up and left the island, then stumbled across again last year. Since then, I’ve severely enjoyed catching up on all the sounds of Jay and UT.

cowboydown
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Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2003 11:43 am
Location: Potland

No Depression

Post by cowboydown »

1990. In my truck. College radio. Graveyard Shift.

Headed straight to tower records and bought it.

folkhero72
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2003 9:47 am

Post by folkhero72 »

Hi all- First time posting here, been reading for a bit though. A friend of mine who has a habit of buying CDs sight unseen because he likes the name of the band picked up a UT album (I think it was No Depression but can't recall for certain) and played it for me. He didn't think I'd like the country overtones since I was pretty much into bands like Minor Threat and Husker Du at the time. I was blown away by the album. A few weeks later we were looking through our city's crappy little newspaper to see what was going on. As there is nothing ever going on in Cedar Rapids, IA we checked Iowa City (college town). Wouldn't you know it, UT was playing that night. Well, what better to do than go take in a show. Afterwards we both bought everything we could find by UT and have gotten everything from the split since. My only regret was that I wasn't more familiar with UT when I saw them live. Still an amazing show (in my top 3). I'm going back to Iowa City in a few days to see Jay at the Mill. I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks for listening all, and thanks for posting a great question.

gpchem
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:10 pm
Location: San Francisco

Post by gpchem »

This is my first post here. I heard Drown about a year ago and really liked it. I read a review of the new UT anthology coming out and was interested because I graduated the same year from high school as Jay, Jeff, and Mike just a couple towns away from Belleville. I might have run into them without knowing it. On a whim, I bought the UT anthology and LOVED Jay's songs and voice. Didn't care so much for Jeff's stuff nor Wilco. Two months ago, I decided to get Trace once I knew it was Jay's work, and Drown was from it.

I have NEVER gone so nuts over a musician before. In the last two months I have bought all of Jay's CD's I could get my hands on, and they are constantly in rotation. It's great to hear all these lyrical references to the St. Louis area and the towns around us.

mcarlton
Posts: 1365
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 7:54 pm
Location: Abbey Road

Post by mcarlton »

Bring old topic to the front...

I first heard March 16th-20 when my older brother played it for me back in 1993 i think. I bought anodyne after that one. I wasn't completely hooked so far. I like a number of songs but not all of them. Then Wilco's AM came out and I bought that. It was ok but something was missing. The I bought Trace... Hooked ever since. Backfilled my collection with the other UT CD's then too. Now that i am trying to play guitar I am enjoying UT even more.

CaryatidEasy
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2003 10:32 am

Post by CaryatidEasy »

Hey Attaboyd, I was at that show at the Roxy on the 19th as well! Small world we live in. I was the one fighting for my spot right in front of Jay hoping he might spit on me or something....all I wanted was a LITTLE action from him....I'm not picky.

barstool
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2003 10:53 am

Post by barstool »

An old music acquantance of mine recommended picking up some Uncle Tupelo... This was 1993... The album he recommended was 'Still Feel Gone'. I remember buying the cd, going home and putting it on... It is one of the few albums where it transfixed me and all I could do was sit and listen... totally moved. After the whole album finished, I sat there and played it again in disbelief.... I have NEVER listened to any album twice in a row like that... This was exactly what I was looking for. "Gun" was a great start, but hearing "Looking for a Way Out" really hit me hard, and everything else after... The country infuences with the Replacements-like stop and start of the songs... THAT VOICE. Man... to this day, I have a hard time walking out of the room when that album is playing... From there it was a no-brainer to pick up the other two albums that were available at the time... Been a big fan of Jay and Son Volt since...
Last edited by barstool on Wed Jul 30, 2003 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

stevie
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2003 11:26 pm
Location: Santa Cruz CA/Manchester UK

Post by stevie »

Around 4 years ago I stumbled on a review of Uncle Tupelo in 'The Great Rock Discography' a brilliant, idiosyncratic book written by a mad Scotsman. I have a great deal of respect for this guy and when I read the review of March 16-20 that praised Jay's 'bruised' voice and gave the album 10/10, I decided to buy it. Trouble was, UT were pretty hard to find in the UK at that time, so I had to wait until the summer when I was going on a trip to Canada. I bought March 16-20 in Sams records in Toronto and practically spent the rest of the trip in my hotel room listening to it. From this point I have devoured everything Jay andd Jeff have ever released and managed to convert my girlfriend and 5 other people at present count. Not as many as I would have liked,maybe I'm not trying hard enough..............

Bound to Get Burned
Posts: 375
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:49 pm
Location: Wilmington, NC

Post by Bound to Get Burned »

I first heard Son Volt back in '95 and sort of remember a video to "Drown", but back then I was into nothing but classic rock and didn't care for this style of music. Then in '97 a friend of mine had a mixed tape of songs which had "Why would you wanna live" on it and every time we got in that car it seemed like that song was playing. So, I became fan through repeated listening. Since then, I have seen Son Volt at the Supper Club (Auburn, AL) in '99, Farrar in Atlanta, and Wilco at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. My first Uncle Tupelo album was "Anodyne" and was glad to see the Anothogy to here more of their stuff. Now, I listen to their stuff non stop.

timmy etc
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2003 11:24 am

Post by timmy etc »

I knew of UT/SV/Wilco, but had never heard anything besides Drown.
I read of the YHF saga on the internet, and bought it last fall, just because there was nothing else worth buying.
Of course, once I heard it I got the UT anthology, and soon after, every Farrar or Tweedy album I could find.

loosestring
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Post by loosestring »

The year was 1995. I heard "Drown" on 105.7 The Point in St. Louis and was automatically hooked. Bought the disk and later learned about the history of UT/Son Volt/Wilco. When I first listened to the cd I was like "this is kinda country, weird" being that I was a rock n roll/metal head for the most part. Something about Trace just pulled me in though and it hasn't let me go since. It makes me feel like I did when I was a kid and the family was driving down the highway in the old Ford LTD station wagon listening to 8-tracks of the Oak Ridge Boys, Ronnie Milsap, and Charley Pride. It just has that feeling you know what I mean?

kmz
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2003 4:48 pm
Location: around

finding jay

Post by kmz »

i remember hearing drown on the radio in 95 and subsequently bought trace for an old boyfriend. i listened to it and thought why the hell are they just playing drown. trace is just so solid top to bottom. well, i played that record for a while, but put it away when the relationship split; i got the cd in the end—there’s something to be thankful for. anyways, about 3 years ago, i worked with a guy who was a total music nut. we would just talk and talk about music. one night on a drive, i dug out trace to play for him. he was into wilco, but had not heard son volt. that was it for me. it was like finding a secret treasure. since that night, i find it hard to go a day or 2 and not listen to some jay—whatever the form ut, son volt, solo. subsequently, i have snapped up anything where he's been involved. finding ut's no depression at a used music shop 2 yrs ago was a highlight of bin diving. anyways, nothing new to say, just that voice and those words and all that feeling.
nice to see all these others in the cult of jay...spread the word.

attaboyd
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2003 3:22 pm

Re: my ?

Post by attaboyd »

DS wrote:attaboyd,

I didn't have any underlying agenda to my question. I thought it would be interesting to know when other folks discovered Jay's music.

i didn't think so. this seems like a fairly open community. my long-winded post was probably a reaction to my own cultish feelings about jay and his music.

it was a provocative question. thanks for posting it.

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