Exile in Guyville is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair, released on June 22, 1993, by Matador Records.

In the summer of 1991, Phair wrote and recorded songs on audio cassette tapes, which she circulated in Chicago using the moniker Girly-Sound.

[5] John Henderson, owner of the Chicago indie label Feel Good All Over, heard the tapes and contacted Phair.

However, the whole process was made difficult by the fact that he and Phair had opposite ideas regarding what direction to take in terms of sound.

Eventually, Henderson stopped showing up at the studio, which made Phair move out of his apartment and start working exclusively with Brad Wood on what would become Exile in Guyville.

Despite the outcome of the recording sessions, Henderson tipped off Brad Wood that Matador was interested in Phair.

The booklet also features a collage of several Polaroid photos of Phair, Wood, Rice (and various other people), with a paraphrase from lines from the movie Dirty Harry.

Liz Phair explained the concept of the album in a Billboard article, stating that "For me, Guyville is a concept that combines the smalltown mentality of a 500-person Knawbone, KY.-type town with the Wicker Park indie music scene in Chicago, plus the isolation of every place I've lived in, from Cincinnati to Winnetka".

[8] When asked during an interview with Noah Adams on his radio show All Things Considered about the concept, she elaborated: "It was a state of mind and / or neighborhood that I was living in.

Asked about what she sees in Guyville, Phair said that "All the guys have short, cropped hair, John Lennon glasses, flannel shirts, unpretentiously worn, not as a grunge statement.

The sudden success of the album also generated a somewhat negative response from Chicago's indie music scene.

[6] Despite this, the album inspired a number of imitators, and the lo-fi sound and emotional honesty of Phair's lyrics were frequently cited by critics as outstanding qualities.

[27] In 2013, The New Yorker's Bill Wyman dubbed it "patently one of the strongest rock albums ever made", feeling that each song "reverberates powerfully".

He noted that several indie bands and musicians had gained their "musical DNA" from the record, such as Frankie Cosmos, Jay Som, and more.

It includes three previously unreleased tracks ("Ant in Alaska", a cover of Lynn Taitt's "Say You" and an instrumental listed on the disc as "Standing") and a DVD documentary.

The reissue was released in four formats: the physical LP box set, the digital deluxe edition, as well as cassette and CD pressings.

[40] Absent from the reissue are the two Girly-Sound demos "Shatter" and "Fuck or Die", as Phair was unable to get clearance for samples used in the songs.