July 12, 2005
I really don't know what I'm going to do
Jay Farrar of Son Volt - July 11th, 2005 - Bowery Ballroom
Last night's show at the Bowery Ballroom, I saw one of the founding fathers of the alt. country movement - Jay Farrar. I missed the first generation of alt. country completely and hence missed out on Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar in Uncle Tupelo before they split and formed two new bands: Wilco and Son Volt. I managed to catch a glimpse of Jeff Tweedy at Irving Plaza last year and was not really all that impressed. I was expecting more country and less alt. which is what Jay Farrar sounds like to me.
He's called Son Volt's first album in 7 years Okemah and the Melody of Riot, an homage to folk legend Woody Guthrie and his birthplace. I've only listened to bits and pieces of it from Farrar's interview on WNYC's Soundcheck with John Schaefer.
I didn't know what to expect coming to the Bowery and see him perform. First impression: MOVE AROUND. It looks like he's handing out leaflets instead of rocking out like Dr. Dog. His stage presence and the music just felt jagged, like you're looking at the puppeteer beneath the stage. It pretty much made me just want to leave and play a couple of Son Volt albums at home instead of going to a concert.
As for the sound, it was impressive. It's definitely Son Volt but with an emphasis on guitars. He rarely went on acoustic which was a surprise although he finally did at the encore and played the crowd favorite "Tear Stained Eye." The new album tries to be an anti-war album with songs entitled "Jet Pilot and "Endless War" but it falls short in that respect. Especially when your being sponsored by Target and they're handing out free mints at the door. This wasn't the sound most of the people were expecting from Son Volt after a seven year hiatus. I would have to agree.
Bonus: NY Times Review of Okemah in extended
July 11, 2005
Americana to Comfort Roots Rockers
By BEN RATLIFF
Okemah and the Melody of Riot
Son Volt
Son Volt is a band that inspires either passionate devotion, or very little response at all. One of the two groups that resulted from the breakup of the alternative-country exemplar Uncle Tupelo (the other was Wilco), Son Volt made its last album in 1998. Since then its leader, Jay Farrar, has been working on his own, making an American mythology with comforting bits and pieces, including Neil Young's electric guitar sound and Woody Guthrie's social consciousness.
His work is always honest, and rarely exciting. That continues to apply to Son Volt's comeback album, "Okemah and the Melody of Riot" (Transmit Sound/Legacy), with different musicians, but the same sound. As ever, the album is deadpan Americana, a vote for the old and rock-ribbed and forgiving, both in American music and social values. From the first track, "Bandages & Scars," a beautiful, warm, tube-amplifier sound asserts itself; you know you're in an idealized corner of pop music.
His lyrics aren't as rich and mysterious as they have been in the past. Behind the poetic diction there are shopworn thoughts about war and political favoritism in the songs "Jet Pilot" and "Endless War," about ghosts of American history in "Afterglow 61" and about the superiority of vinyl records in the song "Gramophone." But Son Volt is more about a sound, deliberate and centered and droney. (Mr. Farrar often sounds like Michael Stipe but with a narrower vocal range, and under the heavy influence of Ralph Stanley.) The band's underlying, stubborn seriousness, and nearly Amish unwillingness to change, creates its appeal.
Posted by gopster at July 12, 2005 11:54 PM
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Comments
Good to know that Son Volt is as underwhelming onstage as they were on their first tour.
How was Dr. Dog? I love that Easy Beat record.
They have a hippie rep around here (Philly) but their songs are solid.
I haven't seen Wilco live since the YHF era. I'll never be as satisfied with them live as I was on their Being There tour.
Posted by: Rob at July 13, 2005 08:52 AM
