SON VOLT, THE RETURN
Okemah and the Melody of Riot shipped out into music stores July 12th announcing the return of Son Volt to the music world.
It has been 7 years since Jay Farrar has been in a band. Since Son Volt originally broke up in 1998, Farrar has been making solo records and touring playing acoustic sets. "After having done two primarily acoustic-oriented solo records and a lot of acoustic touring for several years," says Farrar, "I was ready to get back to playing electric. I wanted the solo records to be open-ended, open to trying out different sounds, different approaches. With this Son Volt record, I wanted to get back to the fundamentals."
Reforming Son Volt proved difficult. The original members, other than Farrar, couldn’t come to terms with “creative differences”, so Farrar had to find new members. Dave Bryson plays drums, Andrew Duplantis is on bass and backing vocals, while Brad Rice plays guitar. All of these musicians are new to Son Volt, but with Jay Farrar being the original Son Volt lead, bringing his uniquely smooth and powerful voice, piercing lyrics, and driving musical vision, proves to any doubters that this is Son Volt and not Jay Farrar trying to rip off the name.
The album opens with a song called “Bandages and Scars”. With good old rock guitar and drums, Farrar couples it with Woody Guthrie-esc political words. The Woody Guthrie influence is even more present in the chorus (“Words of Woody Guthrie ringing in my head…”) Track two, “After Glow 61”, kicks up the rock ‘n roll feel with this driving homage to Highway 61--a mainstay in rock and blues. “Jet pilot”, track three, rolls back to a political climate. Farrar leaves his lyrics just ambiguous enough so that they have a commentary and purpose, but do not come off as self-righteous or preachy. The rest off the album keeps going up from there; the band pushes genres with “Medication”, track 8, a slow, flowing song with a Middle-Eastern/Indian flair. The final track of the album, “World Waits for You”, is the first song Jay Farrar has composed on the piano. It is a somber, melodious ballad, which might have been written to Farrar’s children. Son Volt’s “Okemah and The Melody of Riot” is an organic and brilliant album. Jay Farrar has brought Son Volt back more solid and even better than before.
It has been 7 years since Jay Farrar has been in a band. Since Son Volt originally broke up in 1998, Farrar has been making solo records and touring playing acoustic sets. "After having done two primarily acoustic-oriented solo records and a lot of acoustic touring for several years," says Farrar, "I was ready to get back to playing electric. I wanted the solo records to be open-ended, open to trying out different sounds, different approaches. With this Son Volt record, I wanted to get back to the fundamentals."
Reforming Son Volt proved difficult. The original members, other than Farrar, couldn’t come to terms with “creative differences”, so Farrar had to find new members. Dave Bryson plays drums, Andrew Duplantis is on bass and backing vocals, while Brad Rice plays guitar. All of these musicians are new to Son Volt, but with Jay Farrar being the original Son Volt lead, bringing his uniquely smooth and powerful voice, piercing lyrics, and driving musical vision, proves to any doubters that this is Son Volt and not Jay Farrar trying to rip off the name.
The album opens with a song called “Bandages and Scars”. With good old rock guitar and drums, Farrar couples it with Woody Guthrie-esc political words. The Woody Guthrie influence is even more present in the chorus (“Words of Woody Guthrie ringing in my head…”) Track two, “After Glow 61”, kicks up the rock ‘n roll feel with this driving homage to Highway 61--a mainstay in rock and blues. “Jet pilot”, track three, rolls back to a political climate. Farrar leaves his lyrics just ambiguous enough so that they have a commentary and purpose, but do not come off as self-righteous or preachy. The rest off the album keeps going up from there; the band pushes genres with “Medication”, track 8, a slow, flowing song with a Middle-Eastern/Indian flair. The final track of the album, “World Waits for You”, is the first song Jay Farrar has composed on the piano. It is a somber, melodious ballad, which might have been written to Farrar’s children. Son Volt’s “Okemah and The Melody of Riot” is an organic and brilliant album. Jay Farrar has brought Son Volt back more solid and even better than before.