Uncle Tupelo

Small-town Midwestern high school pals Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar began playing together in a band called the Primitives before forming Uncle Tupelo. Mixing noisy punk-influenced guitar and feedback with country-tinged melodic twang, Uncle Tupelo was one of the preeminent roots bands that arose in the heartland in the wake of alternative rock.

Photo by Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images