UNCLE TUPELO
Lounge Ax, Chicago, IL
March 23, 1994
*Uncle Tupelo Upgrade Series, Vol. 11*

Source: Shure VP88 stereo mic mounted on the ceiling > Denon DTR-80P (DAT, 16/48)
Transfer: Clone of master DAT(1) > Tascam DA-20 > M-Audio Audiophile USB > PC > Wavelab 5.0; Audacity (fades, light edits) > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > TLC > Flac (8)

Taped by Jeff S, transferred by mrpember

This is a 16/48 recording

01- Postcard (vocals not in the mix at first)
02- Grindstone
03- Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down [traditional]
04- tuning / instrumental
05- Chickamauga
06- Watch Me Fall
07- Fifteen Keys
08- The Long Cut
09- Anodyne
10- New Madrid
11- Sandusky
12- Gun
13- Slate
14- Atomic Power [Louvin Brothers cover]
15- Looking For a Way Out
16- Acuff-Rose
17- High Water
18- We've Been Had

Encore 1
19- Give Back the Key to My Heart* [Doug Sahm cover]

Encore 2
20- (Is Anybody Going to) San Antone?* [Doug Sahm cover]

Encore 3
21- Effigy [Creedence Clearwater Revival cover]

Encore 4
22- Willin' [Little Feat cover]
23- No Depression [traditional]

LINEUP

Jay Farrar: guitar, harmonica, mandolin, vocals
Jeff Tweedy: bass, vocals
Ken Coomer: drums
John Stirrat: bass, guitar, vocals
Max Johnston: mandolin, fiddle, banjo, lap steel

* with Joe Henry, Eric Heywood, Jim Boquist, Tim O'Reagon, Mike Russell


The purpose of the Uncle Tupelo Upgrade Series is to circulate live recordings of Uncle Tupelo and related bands with known lineages, focusing on recordings taken directly from masters or from the cleanest, lowest generation copies available. Some are shows that have circulated online for years with unknown or incorrect lineages and others are shows that have not been widely circulated in the file-sharing era. I will share any information I have regarding the recordings, as well as any features of the shows themselves that make them special to me.

As a companion to the first ever official live Uncle Tupelo album, released on Black Friday of 2020 and recorded at Lounge Ax in Chicago on March 24, 1994 (it sounds great! please buy it!), Vol. 11 of this series is from the night before, the second of three shows they played at Lounge Ax that week. As detailed below, it was a notable night in the history of Uncle Tupelo and the bands that came afterwards.


NOTES ON THE RECORDING

With so many excellent soundboard recordings from the ANODYNE tour, the really good audience recordings from that tour haven't gotten much attention. Jeff S captured all three of the Lounge Ax shows, and he experimented with mounting his microphone on the ceiling of the club. The results are quite good, maybe not quite to the level of his very best tapes at Lounge Ax but very clear with excellent stereo separation.


NOTES ON THE SHOW

This was a solid but pretty standard show from the ANODYNE tour until the encores. Joe Henry and his band had opened all the shows on this leg up through this night, and to mark the occasion of their last night playing together Joe and his band came out and played on a few songs. As it happens, Joe's band included Jim Boquist on bass and Eric Heywood on pedal steel, both of whom would soon be playing with Jay Farrar in Son Volt. So, for two songs in March of 1994, several months before the bands actually formed, we hear 4/5ths of Wilco and 3/5ths of Son Volt all on stage together.

This was a typically enthusiastic crowd at Lounge Ax, calling the band back for four encores. And it is my opinion that any show where they did "Effigy" was by default a great show.

Enjoy,

mrpember, November 2020