Son Volt
Encyclopedia
Son Volt is an alternative country
group formed by Jay Farrar
in 1994 after the breakup of the band Uncle Tupelo
.
. The sessions reportedly went so well that Farrar and the other band members intended to record once again in the autumn of 2004. Just prior to the sessions, however, Farrar ended negotiations with the other band members abruptly. Insisting that the Son Volt trademark belonged to him , Farrar formed a new version of the band with a different line-up and released an album on Transmit Sound/Sony Legacy, Okemah and the Melody of Riot., in 2005. 2006 saw the release of a live CD and DVD called Six String Belief. In 2007 the band released a studio album called The Search. A new Son Volt album, American Central Dust, was released by Rounder Records on July 7, 2009.
/country
ballads reminiscent of Bob Dylan
's John Wesley Harding
, to barhouse rockers in the spirit of Neil Young
with Crazy Horse
. Often considered a staple band of the alternative country
movement, their music is perhaps better described as genre-spanning traditional American music
.
Son Volt's first album, Trace
, met with critical acclaim and topped many "best-of" lists in 1995, despite not being a large commercial success. Two follow-up albums (1997's Straightaways
and 1998's Wide Swing Tremolo
) continued in the same vein. A Retrospective: 1995-2000
, released in 2005, gathered highlights from this era, along with previously unreleased recordings.
The new Son Volt line-up began touring March 26, 2007, in support of their album The Search, which was released March 6, 2007 on Transmit Sound/Legacy. Credits for the album include Jay Farrar (vocal, guitar, piano), Dave Bryson (drums), Derry deBorja (keyboards), Andrew Duplantis (bass, backing vocals) and Brad Rice (guitar). Bryson and Duplantis played with the Meat Puppets, first as the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra. Lead guitarist and former member of Jack Ingram's band Chris Masterson replaced Brad Rice as the touring guitarist on the 2007 tour. Mark Spencer
, formerly of Blood Oranges and the touring guitarist for many Jay Farrar solo shows, joined Son Volt in 2008 as a keyboardist and steel guitar player. The lineup of Farrar, Duplantis, Bryson, Spencer and Masterson recorded the 2009 album 'American Central Dust'. Guitarist James Walbourne, who also plays lead guitar in The Pretenders, replaced Masterson as the touring guitarist in Summer 2009.
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
group formed by Jay Farrar
Jay Farrar
Jay Farrar is an American songwriter and musician currently based in St. Louis, Missouri. A veteran of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001...
in 1994 after the breakup of the band Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville...
.
History
The group formed after Farrar met Jim and Dave Boquist during the final Uncle Tupelo tour. Together with former Uncle Tupelo drummer Mike Heidorn, the band rehearsed and recorded in the Minneapolis area in late 1994. The group performed its first concert at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on June 16, 1995. While half of the band was rooted in the Minneapolis area, Farrar and Heidorn lived in the St. Louis area, and the band used both cities as bases for its operations during the first couple of years.Hiatus and return
Son Volt was dropped from their record label contract with Warner Bros. Records, and announced a hiatus after their 1999 tour. Beginning in 2001, Jay Farrar released several solo efforts that postponed further releases from Son Volt. Farrar reformed with the original members of Son Volt to record a song for a tribute album for Alejandro EscovedoAlejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:The son of Mexican immigrants to Texas, Escovedo is from a family that boasts several professional musicians, including brothers Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, and Sheila E...
. The sessions reportedly went so well that Farrar and the other band members intended to record once again in the autumn of 2004. Just prior to the sessions, however, Farrar ended negotiations with the other band members abruptly. Insisting that the Son Volt trademark belonged to him , Farrar formed a new version of the band with a different line-up and released an album on Transmit Sound/Sony Legacy, Okemah and the Melody of Riot., in 2005. 2006 saw the release of a live CD and DVD called Six String Belief. In 2007 the band released a studio album called The Search. A new Son Volt album, American Central Dust, was released by Rounder Records on July 7, 2009.
Music
Son Volt's music ranges from quiet folkFolk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
/country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
ballads reminiscent of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's John Wesley Harding
John Wesley Harding (album)
John Wesley Harding is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's eighth studio album, released by Columbia Records in December 1967.Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to acoustic music and traditional roots, after three albums of electric rock music...
, to barhouse rockers in the spirit of Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
with Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse (band)
Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for its association with Neil Young. It has been co-credited on a number of albums throughout Young's career and has released five albums of its own.-Early years:...
. Often considered a staple band of the alternative country
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
movement, their music is perhaps better described as genre-spanning traditional American music
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
.
Son Volt's first album, Trace
Trace (album)
Trace is the first album by Son Volt, released in 1995. The band was formed the previous year by Jay Farrar after the breakup of the influential alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. The album reached #166 on the Billboard 200 album chart and received extremely favorable reviews...
, met with critical acclaim and topped many "best-of" lists in 1995, despite not being a large commercial success. Two follow-up albums (1997's Straightaways
Straightaways
Straightaways is the second release of the band Son Volt.Release Date: April 22, 1997-Track listing:# "Caryatid Easy" - 4:43# "Back Into Your World" - 3:43# "Picking Up the Signal" - 3:45# "Left a Slide" - 5:10# "Creosote" - 4:10...
and 1998's Wide Swing Tremolo
Wide Swing Tremolo
Wide Swing Tremolo is a 1998 album by alt-country band Son Volt.-Track listing:# "Straightface" - 3:02# "Driving the View" - 2:57# "Jodel" - 0:41# "Medicine Hat" - 4:12# "Strands" - 5:06# "Flow" - 2:18# "Dead Man's Clothes" - 2:46...
) continued in the same vein. A Retrospective: 1995-2000
A Retrospective: 1995-2000
-Track listing:# Drown# Windfall# Route# Rex's Blues# Looking at the World Through A Windshield# Too Early# Back Into Your World# Picking Up the Signal# I've Got to Know# Creosote# Straightface# Tulsa County# Driving the View# Ain't No More Cane# Flow...
, released in 2005, gathered highlights from this era, along with previously unreleased recordings.
Current members
- Jay FarrarJay FarrarJay Farrar is an American songwriter and musician currently based in St. Louis, Missouri. A veteran of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001...
(guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
), formerly of Uncle TupeloUncle TupeloUncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville... - Dave Bryson (drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
) - Andrew Duplantis (bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals) - James Walbourne (lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
) - Mark SpencerMark Spencer (guitarist)Mark Spencer, is an American guitarist, steel guitarist, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and musician currently based in Brooklyn, New York. An original member of seminal alt-country band Blood Oranges, he continues to work as an in-demand band member and sideman with a diverse range of new and...
(keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, steel guitar), formerly of Blood OrangesBlood OrangesThe Blood Oranges were an alternative country band that formed in the late 1980s.The founding members were Jim Ryan , Cheri Knight , Mark Spencer , and Ron Ward . Between 1990 and 1994 they released two full albums and one EP...
The new Son Volt line-up began touring March 26, 2007, in support of their album The Search, which was released March 6, 2007 on Transmit Sound/Legacy. Credits for the album include Jay Farrar (vocal, guitar, piano), Dave Bryson (drums), Derry deBorja (keyboards), Andrew Duplantis (bass, backing vocals) and Brad Rice (guitar). Bryson and Duplantis played with the Meat Puppets, first as the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra. Lead guitarist and former member of Jack Ingram's band Chris Masterson replaced Brad Rice as the touring guitarist on the 2007 tour. Mark Spencer
Mark Spencer (guitarist)
Mark Spencer, is an American guitarist, steel guitarist, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and musician currently based in Brooklyn, New York. An original member of seminal alt-country band Blood Oranges, he continues to work as an in-demand band member and sideman with a diverse range of new and...
, formerly of Blood Oranges and the touring guitarist for many Jay Farrar solo shows, joined Son Volt in 2008 as a keyboardist and steel guitar player. The lineup of Farrar, Duplantis, Bryson, Spencer and Masterson recorded the 2009 album 'American Central Dust'. Guitarist James Walbourne, who also plays lead guitar in The Pretenders, replaced Masterson as the touring guitarist in Summer 2009.
Former members
- Derry deBorja (keyboards)
- Brad Rice (guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) - Chris Frame (guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) - Mike HeidornMike HeidornMike Heidorn, born 1967 in Belleville, Illinois, is the former drummer and founding member of alternative country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. Heidorn also played with the Uncle Tupelo precursors the Primitives and the one-off band Coffee Creek with Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy of Uncle Tupelo...
(drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
), formerly of Uncle TupeloUncle TupeloUncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville... - Dave Boquist (banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, guitar, lap steel) - Jim Boquist (bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
) - Chris Masterson (guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) - Eric Heywood (mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, pedal steel)
Discography
- TraceTrace (album)Trace is the first album by Son Volt, released in 1995. The band was formed the previous year by Jay Farrar after the breakup of the influential alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. The album reached #166 on the Billboard 200 album chart and received extremely favorable reviews...
(1995), Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
#166 (US) - StraightawaysStraightawaysStraightaways is the second release of the band Son Volt.Release Date: April 22, 1997-Track listing:# "Caryatid Easy" - 4:43# "Back Into Your World" - 3:43# "Picking Up the Signal" - 3:45# "Left a Slide" - 5:10# "Creosote" - 4:10...
(1997), Warner Bros. Records #44 (US) - Wide Swing TremoloWide Swing TremoloWide Swing Tremolo is a 1998 album by alt-country band Son Volt.-Track listing:# "Straightface" - 3:02# "Driving the View" - 2:57# "Jodel" - 0:41# "Medicine Hat" - 4:12# "Strands" - 5:06# "Flow" - 2:18# "Dead Man's Clothes" - 2:46...
(1998), Warner Bros. Records #93 (US) - A Retrospective: 1995-2000A Retrospective: 1995-2000-Track listing:# Drown# Windfall# Route# Rex's Blues# Looking at the World Through A Windshield# Too Early# Back Into Your World# Picking Up the Signal# I've Got to Know# Creosote# Straightface# Tulsa County# Driving the View# Ain't No More Cane# Flow...
(2005), Warner Bros. Records/Rhino - Afterglow 61 (2005) EP, Transmit Sounds Records/Legacy RecordingsLegacy RecordingsLegacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
- Okemah and the Melody of RiotOkemah and the Melody of RiotOkemah and the Melody of Riot is the fourth album by alt-country band Son Volt. It was released on October 5, 2005.-Track listing:#"Bandages & Scars" - 3:23#"Afterglow 61" - 2:48#"Jet Pilot" - 3:12#"Atmosphere" - 3:50#"Ipecac" - 3:29#"Who" - 4:02...
(2005), Transmit Sounds Records/Legacy RecordingsLegacy RecordingsLegacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
#89 (US) - The SearchThe Search (album)The Search in an album by the band Son Volt. It was released March 6, 2007.-Track listing:# "Slow Hearse" - 2:32# "The Picture" - 3:27# "Action" - 2:48# "Underground Dream" - 4:32# "Circadian Rhythm" - 5:02# "Beacon Soul" - 2:31# "The Search" - 2:59...
(March 2007), Transmit Sounds Records/Legacy RecordingsLegacy RecordingsLegacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
#81 (US) - American Central DustAmerican Central DustAmerican Central Dust in an album by the band Son Volt. It was released July 7, 2009.-Track listing:All tracks by Jay Farrar# "Dynamite" - 2:49# "Down to the Wire" - 4:19# "Roll On" - 3:10# "Cocaine and Ashes" - 4:31# "Dust of Daylight" - 3:07...
(July 2009), Rounder Records #44 (US)
External links
- Son Volt's Site
- Short story review of The Search at The Wheel's Still In Spin
- Features and CD reviews of Son Volt at the Country Standard Time web site