Once upon a time (in the early 1990’s) a dude I was smitten with took me to see a band called Uncle Tupelo at Liberty Lunch in Austin, Texas. My date was always broke and had a radio show on the student station, so I know we must have gone because he was on the list!
At the end of the show, I remember my pal walking up to the stage and handing Jeff Tweedy what was (at least in Austin slacker circles) the early 90’s business card of the gently employed. That improvised business card was a torn off portion of his deposit slip-- the part with his phone number on it —for the next time the band was in town. They chatted for a bit while Tweedy was packing up his gear, and my date and I left.
The early 1990's was a time when alt-country was just starting to become a going concern. I may have hopped on the alt-country bandwagon a little more easily than some.
You can take the girl out of Pasadena, but it's hard to take the Pasadena out of the girl. Growing up just outside of Houston, I heard a lot of country music before I was old enough to drive. How chicken-fried was my upbringing? My orthodontist was across the street from Gilley’s, the bar made famous by the movie Urban Cowboy.
The aftermath:
After the Uncle Tupelo show that night, I was impressed enough went out and got Anodyne, the Uncle Tupelo album that the record store had in stock.
Once Tweedy and Jay Farrar of Uncle Tupelo went their different ways, I stuck with Tweedy.
