Antietam

One of the less celebrated acts amid the early-1990s indie-rock landscape, Antietam brought a distinctly Southern response to the poised Hoboken sound of Yo La Tengo by fusing that urban restraint with raw Southern-rock energy, most vividly through frontwoman Tara Key’s commanding guitar lines that occasionally evoked a post-punk Lynyrd Skynyrd reconciling with Neil Young after the “Sweet Home Alabama” exchange. Much like their Hoboken counterparts, the Louisville trio matured openly across successive releases. Key and her bassist partner Tim Harris launched the decade in their hometown as half of the Babylon Dance Band, whose Pylon-inspired post-punk style earned fervent local support and allowed the quartet to play throughout the Midwest and East Coast; yet they issued only the 1981 single “When I’m Home” before disbanding in 1983. The following year Key and Harris assembled Antietam with second bassist Wolf Knapp and drummer Michael Weinert. Key assumed lead vocals alongside her guitar duties, lending the earliest lineup a mild folk-rock cast reminiscent of R.E.M.’s Chronic Town period or the dB’s Like This era. Their self-titled 1985 debut, featuring Harris and Knapp’s twin-bass foundation beneath Key’s sharp, Roger Miller-inflected (Mission of Burma rather than “King of the Road”) guitar, stands as an eccentric yet inviting artifact of mid-eighties indie rock. Weinert, whose limitations were evident on that first record, gave way to the more assured Sean Mulhall—another former Babylon Dance Band member—by the time of the stronger 1986 follow-up, Music From Elba. Although the R.E.M. parallel had faded, the album’s introspective yet quietly charged atmosphere revealed clear affinities with contemporaneous Hoboken outfits such as the Feelies and the Individuals. Drawn by those shared sensibilities, Key and Harris relocated to New York in the late eighties, where they soon befriended Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. Yo La Tengo included a version of Antietam’s intense “Orange Song” on their 1989 album President Yo La Tengo, and Kaplan and Hubley later produced Antietam’s third record, 1990’s Burgoo. Although still limited by another uneven drummer, Charles Schultz, the band adjusted gracefully to life as a trio once Knapp remained in Louisville to resume college studies; Key compensated for the absence of the dual-bass textures by emphasizing overtones and feedback, an approach that suited the more forceful material on the album. Following the archival release of a second Babylon Dance Band single, “Someday,” in late 1990, Key and Harris finally secured a reliable drummer in Josh Madell, establishing a stable, evenly matched three-piece. The leap in quality on 1991’s Everywhere Outside was immediate, especially in Key’s more nuanced yet still aggressive guitar work. A blistering CBGB performance from July of that year appeared in 1992 as the live album Antietam Comes Alive!, which added two new tracks and a fiery reading of Patti Smith’s “Ask the Angels” featuring guest rhythm guitar from Sleepyhead’s Chris O’Rourke. Capitalizing on that success, Key and Harris briefly reunited with Mulhall and singer Chip Nold to revive the Babylon Dance Band and issue its long-delayed debut, 1994’s Four on One; recorded in part with New York noise specialist Wharton Tiers, the album conveyed the casual camaraderie of old friends, complete with a loose Shadows of Knight cover. Reassembled with Madell, Antietam then delivered what many consider their finest studio effort, 1994’s Rope-a-Dope, expanding the dynamic range established on the prior two albums while granting Harris and Madell two lead-vocal turns apiece. During a 1993 hiatus Key cut her first solo outing, the Harris-produced Bourbon County, across two separate sessions with entirely distinct personnel; issued in 1995, the well-received album prompted a more focused follow-up, 1996’s Ear and Echo, still credited as a Tara Key solo project yet performed by Key, Harris, Madell, and returning second bassist Wolf Knapp. A lone Antietam single, “Alibi,” surfaced that same year before the band name was set aside. Key later collaborated with Eleventh Dream Day’s Rick Rizzo on 2000’s Dark Edson Tiger, which also featured Harris, Janet Beveridge Bean of Eleventh Dream Day, and Run On’s Sue Garner. Separately, Harris contributed cello to Yo La Tengo’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (2000) and Summer Sun (2003) and spent time recording and touring with the Special Pillow, while Madell played drums on the first two Retsin albums, Salt Lick (1995) and Egg Fusion (1996). Harris and Key joined Tara Jane O’Neil for the Naysayer’s 2000 debut, Deathwhisker. As the Special Pillow readied its self-titled 2004 album, Antietam itself reconvened after a decade’s absence; with O’Neil assisting at the console, Victory Park appeared that April on Carrot Top. The double-disc Opus Mixtum followed in early 2008, whereas 2011’s Tenth Life ranked among the band’s most pop-oriented statements.