The Winding Sheet

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Mark Lanegan chronology
The Winding Sheet

Studio album by Mark Lanegan
Released	May 1990
Recorded	December 1989
Genre	Blues, Rock
Length	40:18
Label	Sub Pop
Producer(s)	Jack Endino, Mike Johnson and Mark Lanegan
N/A	The Winding Sheet (1990)	Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994)

The Winding Sheet is an album by American musician Mark Lanegan that was released in 1990. It was Lanegan's first solo work, and is notable in its departure from the characteristic sound of Screaming Trees, the band he fronted from 1985 until 1996. While the work done in that group was much more energetic and fit into the burgeoning grunge genre of the late 80s/early 90s, The Winding Sheet has a much more stripped down sound, defining Lanegan's solo work largely for the rest of the decade. The album was a modest success.

1 The Nirvana Connection
2 Track listing
3 Performers
4 References

[edit] The Nirvana Connection

The Winding Sheet is notable for the contribution of Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, who would achieve considerable fame and success the following year with their breakthrough album Nevermind. Cobain and Novoselic contributed largely to Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", which Nirvana would cover years later in their famous Unplugged concert. During this period Kurt was still having himself credited as 'Kurdt Kobain', and Krist was still going by Chris, hence the alternate spellings in the credits.

"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" was actually culled from a failed collaboration that was to be made up of various Screaming Trees and Nirvana members. In Heavier Than Heaven, the Cobain biography by Charles R. Cross, the history of this meeting is looked into more closely.

"Later that August [of 1989] Kurt formed an offshoot band with Mark Lanegan, of the Screaming Trees, Krist on bass, and the Trees' drummer Mark Pickerel on drums. Kurt and Lanegan had been writing songs with each other for several months, though most of their time together was spent talking about their love of Leadbelly. The band rehearsed several times in a Seattle practice space Nirvana had rented above the Continental Trailways bus station. "Our first rehearsal must have been exclusively dedicated to Leadbelly," Pickerel recalled. "Both Mark and Kurt brought Leadbelly tapes, and we listened to them on this little boombox." Kurt and Krist wanted to call the new band "Lithium," while Pickerel suggested "The Jury," the name they ultimately chose. But when the group went into the studio on August 20, with Endino producing, the project misfired. "It was as if both Mark and Kurt had too much respect for each other to tell the other what to do, or even make suggestions for what they should be doing," Pickerel said. "Neither of them wanted to take on the position of being the decision maker." The two singers couldn't even decide on who should sing what song. They eventually cut "Ain't It a Shame," "Gray Goose," and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?," all Leadbelly songs, but they never followed through to finish a record."

In a Rolling Stone article from Jul 14, 2005, Dave Grohl had the following to say about The Winding Sheet:

"We'd seen the other Unpluggeds and didn't like many of them, because most bands would treat them like rock shows -- play their hits like it was Madison Square Garden, except with acoustic guitars. We wanted to do something different. Like, let's call the Meat Puppets, and let's see if we can learn this Bowie cover. Like the Lead Belly song ["Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" -- also recorded by Mark Lanegan]. Kurt looked up to Lanegan, and his first solo record, The Winding Sheet, is one of the best albums of all time. That was the soundtrack to my first six months in Olympia [Washington]. I listened to it every day -- when the sun wouldn't come up, when it went down too early and when it was cold and raining. I was lonely. I'd listen to that record for reasons. It was a huge influence on our Unplugged thing."

[edit] Track listing

"Mockingbirds" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 2:29
"Museum" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 2:50
"Undertow" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 2:52
"Ugly Sunday" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 3:56
"Down In The Dark" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 3:21
"Wild Flowers" (Lanegan) – 2:59
"Eyes Of A Child" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 4:00
"The Winding Sheet" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 5:30
"Woe" (Lanegan) – 2:04
"Ten Feet Tall" (Lanegan/Johnson) – 2:49
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (Leadbelly) – 3:59
"Juarez" (Lanegan/Fisk/Louvin/Louvin) – 1:21
"I Love You Little Girl" (Lanegan) – 2:02

[edit] Performers

Jack Endino - bass (1, 3 - 5, 10) / second electric guitar (5)
Steve Fisk - organ (8, 12) / piano (1, 4)
Mike Johnson - acoustic guitar (1 - 4, 7 - 8, 10) / electric guitar (1, 3 - 5, 8, 10)
Kurt Kobain (sic) - background vocal (5, 11) / electric guitar (11)
Mark Lanegan - acoustic guitar (6, 9, 13) / vocal (1 - 13)
Chris Novoselic - bass (11)
Mark Pickerel - drums (1, 3 - 5, 11)
Justin Williams - violin (3, 7)