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Boggy Depot is the debut solo album by Alice in Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell. The vinyl edition was released on March 31, 1998, and the CD was released on April 7, 1998, through Columbia Records. The album was named after the ghost town of the same name in Oklahoma, where Cantrell's father grew up. In addition to singing, Cantrell also played guitar, piano, clavinet, organ, and steel drums on Boggy Depot. Cantrell produced the album along with Toby Wright. Cantrell's Alice in Chains bandmates, Sean Kinney and Mike Inez are featured on the album, as well as Les Claypool, Pantera's Rex Brown, and Fishbone's Angelo Moore and John Norwood Fisher. Boggy Depot debuted at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 and spent 14 weeks on the chart. The tracks "Cut You In", "My Song" and "Dickeye" were released as singles to promote the album. "Cut You In" peaked at No. 5. on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks, "My Song" reached No. 6 and "Dickeye" peaked at No. 36. "Cut You In" was nominated for two Billboard Music Video Awards: Best Hard Rock/Metal Clip and Best New Hard Rock/Metal Artist Clip. Boggy Depot was reissued on colored vinyl on December 13, 2019.
In February 1998, Cantrell spoke about the status of Alice in Chains and his new solo project to MTV News:
Cantrell and Columbia launched his official website, JerryCantrell.com, in March 1998 to promote Boggy Depot. This would feature song clips and the "Cut You In" music video. It also included QuickTime video interview footage where Cantrell explained that he had been wanting to venture into solo territory for a while and, with Alice in Chains at a standstill, finally had the chance. However, in the June 1998 issue of Guitar World, Cantrell made it clear that his solo venture was actually a reluctant response to Alice in Chains' diffusing:
Boggy Depot incorporates piano, organ, and country music elements, namely in the tracks "Hurt a Long Time" and "Between". Cantrell confirmed that as a child he was "raised on country music" and that he admires the strong emotion conveyed through the genre. However, the ominous guitar styles previously heard in Alice in Chains are undeniable in tracks like "Jesus Hands" and "Keep the Light On". The tracks "Settling Down" and "Hurt a Long Time" were originally introduced during the recording sessions for Alice in Chains' self-titled album in 1995, but the group chose not to record them. As such, they were the oldest and longest-awaited songs to be introduced on Boggy Depot.Hughes, Kim "Live in Toronto" Interview on 102.1 The Edge Jerry Depot (February 4, 1998). Retrieved March 24, 2008. Although often mistaken as a song about Kurt Cobain's suicide, Cantrell stated that "Hurt a Long Time" is actually about the suicide of his cousin Kevin.
Boggy Depot features both bass guitar Mike Inez and drum kit Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains. This further incited fans to regard it as a "lost" Alice in Chains record or as a follow-up to their 1995 self-titled release. Three other well-known bassists also contributed to the album: Rex Brown of Pantera, John Norwood Fisher of Fishbone, and Les Claypool of Primus. Cantrell credited his relationships to some of these musicians to Lollapalooza '93 where their bands often collaborated on stage. (2015). 9781250048073, Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 9781250048073
A wide variety of equipment was utilized for the recording of Boggy Depot. In terms of guitar amplifier, Cantrell used the Peavey 5150 head given to him by Eddie Van Halen as well as Marshalls, Fenders, and Soldanos. The band used a lot of old RAT effects pedal and an Electro-Harmonix distortion on "Jesus Hands". According to Cantrell, they also used "vintage crappy microphone" including one that Toby Wright bought for $20 at a pawn shop. Cantrell used largely the same guitars as he had in Alice in Chains, including the G&L Rampage, '52 Goldtop Les Paul, and old Stratocasters and Telecasters. He also bought Nancy Wilson's Les Paul Junior which he used heavily and satisfyingly played a new '50s-era Les Paul that Gibson sent him. Cantrell also intermixed guitars on certain songs; for instance, in "Dickeye", a Goldtop was used for the left channel while his white Les Paul reissue went on the right.
Cantrell also designed the album's artwork.Liner notes, Boggy Depot. Columbia Records. 1998. The booklet photography centers around rural Oklahoma. This includes a photo of Cantrell sitting on a porch with his great uncle, Victor Lane. The disc itself depicts Cantrell with hooks attached to his face with surgical adhesive. Strings attached to the hooks are being pulled, morbidly stretching his face.
The album received marginally positive and mixed reception from major publications. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine estimated that Cantrell was a reluctant solo artist who would prefer his work to be published through Alice in Chains. However, Erlewine claimed, "everything that an Alice fan has loved ... is here in spades." He detailed how tend to drag songs too long and that, while Boggy Depot lacks the "psychological weight" of Dirt, it "comes close to replicating the sound." Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone commended Cantrell's writing but gave a less enthusiastic review. He regarded it as the "same reliably hook-y '70s metal album that Alice in Chains always made" and "basically Alice in Handcuffs". Sheffield also claimed "'Breaks My Back' sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin's 'No Quarter' except it lasts eight seconds longer and fails to mention Thor. . . Nothing here would've sounded novel or Earth-shattering in 1978, let alone 1998, but Cantrell sure does know his trade."
Billboard described Boggy Depot as similar to Cantrell's work in Alice in Chains and considered it "an album that solidifies Cantrell's reputation as a singer/songwriter/performer in his own right."
In December 1999, The A.V. Club's Stephen Thompson listed Boggy Depot as a nominee for Least Essential Solo Album in his article "Least Essential Albums of the '90s". In April 2002, Thompson gave the album a mixed review, commending "My Song" and "Between" as the best tracks while regarding "Dickeye" and "Devil By His Side" as "pedestrian". He elaborated on the overall sound as "too much ... like Alice in Chains minus a recognizable vocalist; in other words, a little bit like Creed and Days of the New." Thompson compared it to Scott Weiland's 12 Bar Blues as another "bad post-grunge solo album". A.V. Club review
Despite Cantrell's uneasiness towards performing as frontman, concerts were quickly met with praise by critics from the Los Angeles Times, Variety, and other major publications. "Jerry Cantrell to Headline Solo Tour" Business Wire (October 1, 1998). Retrieved March 24, 2008. The broad approval led Cantrell to schedule a headlining tour starting October 1 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Flight 16 filled the slot as his opening band.
"Cut You In" served as Boggy Depot s lead single and video which charted well and remained one of the album's best known songs. The track is unusual for Cantrell's style considering its use of French horn. It was the number 1 most-added track at Rock and Alternative radio with more than 1,000 spins and an audience of more than nine million in its first five days. The second single, "My Song", was on Billboards Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for over a dozen weeks. Its controversial music video was directed by Rocky Schenck and features performance artist Ann Magnuson. A third and final single, "Dickeye", also managed to chart albeit briefly.
On July 19, 1998, Cantrell was interviewed for the MTV program 120 Minutes which also aired the videos for "Cut You In" and "My Song".
|- | align="center" rowspan="2"| 1998 || rowspan="2"| Cut You In || Best Hard Rock/Metal Clip || |- | | Best New Hard Rock/Metal Artist Clip ||
Singles – Billboard (United States)
| 1998 | "Cut You In" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 5 |
| Modern Rock Tracks | 15 | ||
| "Dickeye" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 36 | |
| "My Song" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 6 |
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