Photo via Summerfest
Son Volt
On a Saturday evening last summer, between thunderstorms, Son Volt played an electrifying concert at the bandshell in Manitowoc’s downtown Washington Park. It might seem an out-of-the-way gig for an acclaimed band but in the course of an 11-album career the band has ventured far and wide.
Jay Farrar first came to note when his group Uncle Tupelo spearheaded the loosely defined alt-country movement. But Farrar has always been his own artist. Seemingly defined by his weary slice-of-life lyrics and dynamic music, he will just as soon toss a curveball covering Syd Barret or The Who.
Son Volt may be rooted in tradition, Farrar’s literary-everyman perspective has always set him apart. While membership has fluctuated over the years, the band’s first three albums, Trace, Straightaways, and Wide Swing Tremolo set the bar high with as good a soundtrack for a road trip as you will find by anyone.
Raised in Belleville, IL just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Farrar seems to have something in his blood that comes out in the songwriting that reflects the crossroads of interstate highways and shipping lanes. He knows history but is not hemmed in by it. Of Uncle Tupelo, the band he formed with high school classmate Jeff Tweedy (who formed Wilco), Farrar simply says, “We had similar musical interests and took it from there.”
