 Lyrically the songs reflected the band members ' experiences growing up in Belleville . Farrar and Tweedy romanticized tales about unemployment , alcoholism , and the feeling of living in a small town in an effort to emulate the profundity of songwriters such as Woody Guthrie . Musically , No Depression was influenced by the start @-@ stop musical pattern of the Minutemen . The cover of the album features a blurry photo of the band , taken by J. Hamilton , reminiscent of the albums released on Folkways Records . 
