Tupelo Honey: Seminal Alt-Country Act Reissued

Three of the four albums recorded by pioneering alt-country act Uncle Tupelo will see re-release March 11 via Columbia/Legacy. As previously reported, the remastered editions will come complete with bonus tracks and new liner notes. The reissues were compiled with the assistance of the band's former members, which include Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Son Volt's Jay Farrar.

After their original release on the Rockville label in the early 1990s, the rights to "No Depression," "Still Feel Gone," and "March 16-20, 1992" reverted back to the band in recent years. With the success of Wilco and alt-country's general rise in popularity, Uncle Tupelo's legacy has experienced a renaissance of late. Last year, Columbia/Legacy released the single-disc retrospective "Uncle Tupelo 89/93: An Anthology," which became the group's first album to reach The Billboard 200 when it entered at No. 173 in April.

The reissue of Uncle Tupelo's 1990 debut "No Depression" will include six bonus tracks, Billboard.com has learned. Previously unreleased demos of "Blues Die Hard" and "No Depression" will accompany "Won't Forget" (originally released on the soundtrack to "A Matter of Degrees") "Left in the Dark" (which was included on the vinyl edition of the recently released anthology), and "Sin City" (a B-side to "I Got Drunk"). The album, often credited with fueling the alt-country movement (the genre's leading magazine took its name from the set), will feature liner notes by rock scribe Jason Fine.

For the group's "Still Feel Gone," Columbia/Legacy has added five tracks, three of which are previously unreleased demos: "Watch Me Fall," "Looking for a Way Out," and "If That's Alright." The set will also come with rare tracks "Sauget Wind" and "I Wanna Destroy You," the latter a Soft Boys cover. Journalist Holly George Warren will tackle the album's liner notes.

The Peter Buck-produced "March 16-20, 1992," a critical hit that featured a number of Uncle Tupelo interpretations of traditional country selections, will be bundled with six extra tracks. The goodies include previously unreleased demo recordings of "Grindstone," the Louvin Brothers' "Atomic Power," the Stooges' classic "I Wanna Be Your Dog," and the Jerry Goldsmith-composed theme to "The Waltons." A live rendition of country standard "Moonshiner" and the B-side "Take My Word," will also be added to the album, which will feature liner notes from rock critic David Fricke.

The Belleville, Ill.-based group, which also featured drummers Max Heidorn and Ken Coomer and was rounded out by multi-instrumentalists Max Johnston and John Stirratt, split in 1994. Coomer, Johnston, and Stirratt followed Tweedy to Wilco, but Tweedy and Stirratt are the only Uncle Tupelo members still in the band.


-- Todd Martens, L.A.

I'm in line for March 16-20 ... A great great record.