After the breakup of the pioneering alt-country band Uncle Tupelo, guitarist and songwriter Jay Farrar founded Son Volt, which gave him a purer vehicle for his moody and compelling songs and rich vocal style. In 1997, as Son Volt were touring in support of their second album, Straightaways…, Farrar and bandmates Dave Boquist, Jim Boquist, and Mike Heidorn. Track Listing 1 – Route 2 – Loose String 3 – Cemetery Savior 4 – Catching On 5 – Live Free 6 – Tear-Stained Eye 7 – True To Life 8 – Left A Slide 9 – Windfall 10 – Out Of The Picture 11 – Back Into Your World 12 – Ten Second News 13 – Picking Up The Signal 14 – Drown 15 – Too Early 16 – Chickamauga

The great alt-country band Uncle Tupelo played its last concert on May 1, 1994, at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, Missouri. By the time of this show, Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar were already not getting along well. Soon after the performance, they would both go on to create other bands, with Farrar founding Son Volt and Tweedy forming Wilco, but on that night in May 1994, there was one last grasp at combined harmony and greatness. In the video below, Tweedy and Farrar trade off on the lead vocals, with drummer Mike Heidorn joining the band on the final song of the set, “Looking for a Way Out,” and also singing on the encore with Brian Henneman and the Bottle Rockets on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps.”

Uncle Tupelo at Jake's in Bloomington, Indiana 1992. Tracks include: Satan, Your Kingdom Must Com Down, No Depression, Watch Me Fall, Gun and many others.