kansas vs. uncle tupelo

I cant believe I missed this. First Kansas album is rock-solid,

My guess is that both bands are emblematic of each era's ideas about what actually constitutes 'art-rock', refracted through a sort of inherited body of Americana signifiers, though typically, even these are different: Uncle Tupelo's Americana is outlaw country, whereas Kansas goes to, like, Longfellow and William Cullen Bryant (they really should've calked one if their songs "Thanatopsis")

*called, even