10. There Is No-One What Will Take Care Of You (1993)

The biggest shock about hearing Oldham’s debut album for the first time is his vocal performance — rough and reliant on his Appalachian holler to stand out. But lyrically, he arrives fully formed, especially on “Long Before” where he evokes God and sex and death amid an ancient American South that feels somehow older than America itself. Here, as on later albums, the songs are less about character and narrative and more about sensations: The smells and sounds of often very unpleasant things, like William Faulkner with nylon strings.

But just when the darkness and obscurity seems too much to take, Oldham breaks into the gripping bar-room confessional “(I Was Drunk At The) Pulpit” which, while dark, is told with the focus and clarity of an alcoholic who knows he’s had enough, but prefers the dirty drunken singing of ale-houses to the cold, perfunctory psalms of the church house. Even 20 years after its release, it remains one of Oldham’s most powerful songs.