Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
Son Volt
For Son Volt leader Jay Farrar it must have been a special occasion as he sang this opening salvo of optimism sporting a white long-sleeve cowboy shirt as temperature hovered near triple digits, “You can see it everywhere, change is in the air.”
Thursday afternoon at Summerfest’s Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage Son Volt demonstrated how to rock, remain vital and deliver thoughtful lyrics at a time in history when important issues seem to hang in the balance.
Backed by a four-piece band who drew from an arsenal of sounds, Farrar’s clear-eyed lyrics left no doubt where he stood.
“The Ninety-Nine Percent have been taken for a ride … it's a trickle-down world, like you're stuck in cement … Ninety-Nine Percent.”
If the sober gravitas of his words got lost on a festival rock stage, well that’s where albums, uh--I mean CDs, wait--I mean streaming, come in. A dedicated fan base means an audience that pays attention and knows the words.
But if that were all Son Volt had, things would have bogged down quickly. It wasn’t. Picking and choosing from a small music store’s-worth of eye-catching vintage guitars, the band fired off dynamic arrangements that moved from John Horton’s Swiss army knife approach of fuzzy, blistering lead guitar, electric 12-string and slide baritone to Mark Spencer’s keyboards and lap steel guitar. For these musicians, the array of gear was simply a toolbox to get the job done. Spencer has become a legitimate foil, with his playing in particular becoming a second voice to Farrar’s songs.
The band’s sound effortlessly pivoted from amped folkies to frustrated punks to the shadow of a lost Glen Campbell hit record.
Farrar was an old soul even back in the days when his group Uncle Tupelo crashed on the floor of Milwaukee opening bands. He acknowledged that era, closing with “Chickamauga.” But the set also included “Drown” and “Tear Stained Eye,” both from Son Volt’s 1995 landmark debut album trace.
Still waters run deep, he sang in a lyric that could also double as a caption next to his high school yearbook photo. In a career marked by artistic wanderlust, lyrics like “when in doubt move on,” and “can you deny, there's nothing greater, nothing more than the traveling hands of time?” Farrar long ago acknowledged he is in it for the long run. Just don’t be foolish enough to expect the same thing.
