When was the first time you heard Jay

Sticky · Post by **Sticky** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:10 pm

Play or sing?

Play:
Jay was either in 8th grade or a HS freshman when I saw him play for Dade's band, The Plebe's , at Mr. A's Disco's "New Wave Night". So... 81-83?

Sing:
With Wade's band, The Primitives, Liedekranz Hall, 85ish. My band opened, there was a huge fight when we played Fear's "I Don't Care About You (Fuck You). Jay always sang "Primitive".

As a 3 piece with Jeff and Mike:
Whatever weekend was the 3rd weekend of September, 1986. First time they played live as a 3. They opened for the band I was in. It was my brother's 19th birthday party. Just remember telling Joe Camel "These guys are going to be really fucking good.

With UT:
2nd time they play'd with that moniker. Sunday, 4th of July weekend,1987. Pretty sure it's the last time they opened for us.

Here's some of the video:
Knoclin' On Heaven's Door:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1silCo8FKI
Good Times & Pickle River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOGuLER71Sc

We even played a Tweedy song that day that UT never played, though Joe calls it an "Uncle Tupelo" song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPV4rViuvE

Seen 'em a few times since that too.

chris

Tupelo Son · Post by **Tupelo Son** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:06 am

It was '95 or so for me....all of my "heroes" seemed a little lost at the time....R.E.M., etc.....So I bought Trace partly because of a good review I'd read, and partly out of curiosity and my normal fishing for something real.....Since the first lines of Windfall I've been hooked, and incredibly there haven't been any letdowns since(knock on wood)!

sturgeongeneral · Post by **sturgeongeneral** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:35 am

i was an avid listener of the outlaw country sound starting around 2000, i.e., jennings, haggard, coe, nelson, etc. in '02 a friend gave me copies of j. cash's american recordings I, II, and III. cash's third album contained a will oldham cover, 'i see a darkness'. the music was relatively simple and pure however the lyrics were biblical in their interpretation to me. that took me down the musical path of will oldham a/k/a bonnie prince billy. oldham's music was a beckoning lighthouse which assisted in changing the path of my musical journey. while researching his music on the internet, it was suggested that oldham listeners might enjoy this strangely titled album, march 16-20, if acoustic purity and lyrical strength were important. i purchased that album in january '03(app. five years ago). interesting enough, the first time i listened to this album, my cd player was in the shuffle mode and the very first song that hit my ears was 'moonshiner'. that was my introduction to mr. farrar. nuff said.

hardwood floor · Post by **hardwood floor** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:20 pm

Derek K wrote:I'm definitely newer to Jay/UT/Volt/Wilco than most of you. In fact, when this thread started in '03 it would be another two and a half years or so before I heard of this Jay Farrar guy.

I was on an internship in Florida and was talking about music with a friend I went to school with in St. Louis. I'd hit somewhat of a rut finding any new music I liked. At the time, the closest my tastes came to country was Tom Petty or Neil Young. I'm only 26, grew up mostly on grunge and expanded from there into classic rock and in college, bands like Radiohead. It had been a few years with a pretty static music library, save new releases from bands I knew.

I was lamenting the state of music and my friend went over to pop in a CD. It was the 89/93 Anthology. I borrowed the CD from him before buying my own copy. Even though I listened to it quite a bit and read the liner notes explaining the history of Uncle Tupelo, talking about Jay & Jeff's split, etc I didn't branch out to going further into the discography until fall, 2006 (yes, just one and a half years ago). Even in that short time, I feel like I've known these songs my whole life. And it was Uncle Tupelo that set me back the hunt for good music again, branching out into alt country, older country influences like Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Steve Earle, etc, and some more experimental stuff in the same genre as newer Wilco. The UT stuff and its derivatives are pretty much the core of what I listen to now, with all the major releases and EP's from Son Volt, UT, Jay solo, Gob Iron and Wilco.

Since that time I've seen Jay three times (Son Volt twice in St. Louis and Jay solo in LA, where I now live.) You might say I'm hooked.

very cool

Derek K · Post by **Derek K** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:05 pm

I'm definitely newer to Jay/UT/Volt/Wilco than most of you. In fact, when this thread started in '03 it would be another two and a half years or so before I heard of this Jay Farrar guy.

I was on an internship in Florida and was talking about music with a friend I went to school with in St. Louis. I'd hit somewhat of a rut finding any new music I liked. At the time, the closest my tastes came to country was Tom Petty or Neil Young. I'm only 26, grew up mostly on grunge and expanded from there into classic rock and in college, bands like Radiohead. It had been a few years with a pretty static music library, save new releases from bands I knew.

I was lamenting the state of music and my friend went over to pop in a CD. It was the 89/93 Anthology. I borrowed the CD from him before buying my own copy. Even though I listened to it quite a bit and read the liner notes explaining the history of Uncle Tupelo, talking about Jay & Jeff's split, etc I didn't branch out to going further into the discography until fall, 2006 (yes, just one and a half years ago). Even in that short time, I feel like I've known these songs my whole life. And it was Uncle Tupelo that set me back the hunt for good music again, branching out into alt country, older country influences like Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Steve Earle, etc, and some more experimental stuff in the same genre as newer Wilco. The UT stuff and its derivatives are pretty much the core of what I listen to now, with all the major releases and EP's from Son Volt, UT, Jay solo, Gob Iron and Wilco.

Since that time I've seen Jay three times (Son Volt twice in St. Louis and Jay solo in LA, where I now live.) You might say I'm hooked.

tremolo · Post by **tremolo** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:38 pm

Ok, I'll play. Had always enjoyed country & hard rock (smalltown predilections) while growing up. Embraced most, if not all of the grunge scene (Alice in Chains probably the most) which went mainstream my first year of college. Got more experimental and in a sense, darker as I progressed through college (read Tool, NIN). I guess my first exposure to the UT family was during an episode of 120 minutes spring of '95. The video for Box full of Letters came on & the host explained the UT breakup, etc. Fast forward to Sept 95. staying with my brother in Austin . Heard drown played at a Barnes & Noble (probably 101.5 or 93.9??). Started learning more about both Wilco & Son Volt. Bought both AM and Trace & saw each band play sets at Liberty Lunch (Kelly Willis went onstage & sang Rex's Blues w/ Jay) that fall as well. Came around a little more slowly to Jay (Casino Queen and AM just seemed more good-timey). As I started buying the UT albums, it was fairly obvious on which side of the aisle the genius lay. The Jay worship started sometime in '96 and was cemented with the release of Straightaways , esp the jawdropping "left a slide". Have always bought everything by both artists (yes, even Chelsea Walls) but the anticipation for any of Jay's releases is much much greater.
The irony of the story is I think UT was in fairly regular rotation on WOXY, about 15 miles from where I grew up but I'm glad I finally did discover such great music, albeit a little late.

calexico · Post by **calexico** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:30 pm

Yesterday. I have the memory of a goldfish.

What?

dbengr69 · Post by **dbengr69** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:37 pm

...bid day bash 1988, front porch of phi kap house at Mizzou.

...I watched a dude climb a telephone pole, fall onto the wires and fry that night.

...also watched a cop car get overturned, and saw someone get a coors light partyball lodged in their neck.

...good times.

Rugged Roses · Post by **Rugged Roses** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:16 pm

I remember reading an alt.rock usenet newsgroup back in '94. There were a lot of threads about a band called "Uncle Tupelo" breaking up. People were seriously bummed. I wanted to see what all the talk was about, and I found four of their CDs in the used bin at my local record shop. I only bought one-- Anodyne -- and was completely blown away. It was just the music I was looking for at that time in my life. I went back to the shop the next night and bought the other three.

I don't know what's weirder, that I'm still listening to this great music 14 years later, or that I'm still lurking in newsgroup-type chat areas. I thought by now we'd all be flying around in jetpacks and ordering Earl Grey tea out of our household food synthesizers.

barclocksays3am · Post by **barclocksays3am** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:49 am

I think it was May 1993,I heard Grindstone on the local college station.Luckily I had my tape deck running and taped it on a 88 cent 60 minute tape.I kept listening to it over and over.I looked around to find some UT cd`s but found nothing!In Oct `93 Anodyne arrived in the record store so finally I got a UT album!I listened to it like crazy for 6 months.It was`nt until late `95 until I got Still Feel Gone and March 16-20 1992,paid like 30 bucks each(cd prices in Canada are crazy on some discs)No Depression I got later on.

Powderfinger · Post by **Powderfinger** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:12 pm

awesome topic...ridin' in a motorized vehicle (listen to a lot of jay in the car)...but this was in a van on my way to my first varsity golf tournament with a bunch of upper classmen...felt pretty cool, then... straightaways after!

thanks jay

danmen · Post by **danmen** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:39 pm

1st heard son volt on the radio doing a live set March 1996. Played Drown and TSE. Picked up trace that week and loved it. Oddly never knew about Uncle Tupelo until hearing Slate on Lightning 100 in Nashville one morning in 1999 on the clock radio of a hotel. I thought, hey - that sounds like the guy from Son Volt. I called and the DJ actually answered and said it was Uncle Tupelo. I immediately bought all 4 UT cds.

Lawrence Fan · Post by **Lawrence Fan** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:32 pm

I'm thinking 1988 sometime, whenever the "Not Forever, Just For Now" demo came out. Definitely before No Depression was recorded.

Cassette demo tape. Don't have it anymore.

I do remember making a mental note that there was the guy with the "brawler" voice and the guy with the "pussy" voice. heh

Damn, 20 years ago. Ouch.

hardwood floor · Post by **hardwood floor** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:17 pm

attaboyd wrote:I was in BJ’s Records in Iowa City in the fall of 1990. I was lamenting the decline of my two favorite bands, the Replacements and REM. The clerk agreed with me then he put a CD in the player, “Listen to this.” It was the opening notes of “Graveyard Shift.” I stayed in the store for forty-five minutes absorbing all of No Depression. That disc was all I listened to for the rest of my senior year of college.

I finally had the chance to see the band live a few months later at Gabe’s Oasis in Iowa City. It was two days after the Gulf War started, and before the show I was watching CNN at the back bar with this kid. We talked about what was going on (Israelis were being shown with gas masks for fear of a chemical attack) and how fucked up it was. When I finally looked at him, I thought, “Who let the sixteen-year-old in here?” Then the kid got up on stage and sang “Train” with Jay and Mike. Jeff Tweedy would admit that song is derivative of Roger McGuinn, but it’s the only anti-war song anyone of my generation ever wrote that made any sense.

They toured constantly, and I would follow Uncle Tupelo from Iowa City to Ames and sometimes to my hometown of Minneapolis (once to Madison). Those shows were amazing. It didn’t feel like the start of something big -- they were just the best band around and you didn’t want to miss a moment.

What a lot of fans don’t realize is that those shows were punk. There was a mosh pit full of angst-ridden Midwesterners trying to kill each other. There were power chords and stage diving and sweat and broken equipment and crazy covers and roadies joining in encores. It didn’t matter that some of it sounded like country, it was genuine, unique and energetic (like the Clash must have sounded in ‘77). Even after March 16-20, 1992 came out, there was still a punk ethos in effect. Two nights before Uncle Tupelo played a folk festival in Beloit, Wisconsin, a friend of mine lost his glasses in a mosh pit at their concert.

I was at Son Volt’s first show ever (and Wilco’s third) in the tiny 7th Entry in Minneapolis. I’ve seen Jay and Jeff several dozen times (maybe triple digits?) in different incarnations. I’ve watched them become cause celebres and poster boys for a movement, but I’ve never begrudged them their success. Some favorite bands you want to keep a secret. Some bands you turn on when they hit it big (”They were better when...”). But Jay and Jeff both deserve to have their music heard. They deserve to have many, many fans.

So I hope the question “When did you first hear Jay?” wasn’t asked as a method of weeding out poser new fans. Because the more important question isn’t “when did you first hear him?,” but “when will you hear him next?”

I just saw Jay last night at the Roxy on the Sunset Stripin LA (a long way from Gabe’s). He was great. It was genuine, unique and mostly energetic. I loved seeing him and hearing him play. But there was a touch of melancholy for me because it can never be like it was. That time is gone... He’s never going to play “Postcard” to a room of fifty drunk college kids hanging on his every word while they slam into each other working out their small-town frustrations.

And I’m probably not going to get in my car and follow him to the next gig. Although maybe I should...

jesus christ

amazing post from somebody five years ago who only posted one other time

well done, attaboyd, wherever you are

saratoga jay · Post by **saratoga jay** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:37 pm

ba da ba Bump.