Anodyne by Uncle Tupelo

Anodyne, Uncle Tupelo's fourth and final album, came out on Sire on October 5, 1993, the Belleville, Illinois, band's only major-label record in its lifetime. Original drummer Mike Heidorn was gone, and Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy had grown the group into a five-piece with bassist John Stirratt, drummer Ken Coomer and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston before heading to Austin, Texas, to record with Brian Paulson.

Farrar and Tweedy split the songwriting and the singing, and you can hear two distinct sensibilities sharing one band, with "The Long Cut", "New Madrid" and "Chickamauga" among the songs. The writing leans on country tradition but digs further into relationships than before, and Doug Sahm himself sings on a cover of his "Give Back the Key to My Heart". Two tours later the tension between the singers broke the band apart: Farrar formed Son Volt with Heidorn, and the rest carried on as Wilco.

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