Okemah And The Melody Of Riot
Melody Riot (Jac Chebatoris, Newsweek)
After seven years, during which [Jay] Farrar recorded three of his own albums, Son Volt is back with “Okemah and the Melody of Riot”--which pairs Farrar's warm voice with jangly guitars and up-tempo melodies not heard in their previous efforts....NEWSWEEK: You married your high-school sweetheart and you have two kids. Did that play a part in your sort of taking a break from it all?
Jay Farrar: It did. I really did want to spend more time with them and watch them grow. I knew that I wasn’t going to have a chance to do that again--at least I didn’t foresee that--so I wanted to scale back a little bit.
What’s the latest between you and Jeff Tweedy? It's been 10 years.
The latest is not much. Immediately after Uncle Tupelo, we both made some efforts to stay in touch. Occasionally we went to each other’s shows and sound checks. We kind of, subsequently, drifted farther and farther apart, I think.
Are you bitter at all about the success that he’s had?
I’m not. I mean, his success has certainly added to the drama of the whole thing, but I feel good about the way I’ve approached it all, which is, that it’s not a competition. I think in the long run, that’s the right way.
What is the title “Okemah and the Melody of Riot” about?
Buy this CD!Okemah is the town in Oklahoma where Woody Guthrie was born so it’s just acknowledging his influence over the years on my music. I think his influence overall was major as it trickled down to people like Bob Dylan or Townes Van Zandt. So I’m just kind of acknowledging that. And the “Melody of Riot” is essentially just acknowledging where I was finding inspiration for this record, which was in writing melodic, up-tempo songs, which was a contrast to the last studio solo record, which was more acoustic based.
Finally, a Newsweek article worth reading. I've excerpted liberally, but good music fans should read the whole thing.
I'm off to Cactus in a bit to pick up the master's newest CD. And it looks like I'll have to head to Austin or Dallas in September, since we can't manage to get a Son Volt show in Houston.
UPDATE: The CD has been worth a seven-year wait. Wow. I can't wait to see the reconstituted version of this band (especially since I never saw the original).
UPDATE 2: From the Son Volt site:
On Okemah and the Melody of Riot, says Farrar, he aimed to create "a live feel, just trying to capture the moment when all the players are firing on all cylinders and the songs come together. So many records now are made with an artist, an engineer and a computer. I wanted this record to be the antithesis of that."Farrar asked a lot from his new recruits to the group – particularly in their flexibility and adaptability in a live setting. Okemah and the Melody of Riot veers from the flat-out ringing rock of "Afterglow 61" to the luscious layers of organ and harmony on the shuffling "Gramophone" to the somber smoky reflections of "Ipecac." He lays much of the results in getting it right to the band that he assembled.
"They all brought a considerable amount of musical experience with them," says Farrar. "We did a lot of live tracking, which can be difficult, but their familiarity with the process and confidence in their abilities made it happen."
What a concept, playing music that way! Good gawd, it's easy to understand why this guy inspired so many alt-country artists. It's even easier after listening to this CD. I can't get enough of the song "Atmosphere."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/30/05 14:48 | Music | Technorati
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Comments
they're scheduled to perform on Letterman Monday night.
Posted by banjo jones @ 01:40 on 07/31/05
Thanks for the heads up! Gotta get that one set for ReplayTV.
Posted by Kevin @ 21:59 on 07/31/05
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