A couple of days ago, my friend Dave passed along the great news that Jay Farrar will be getting together with his old mates to put together a new Son Volt CD:
Midwest-based Son Volt, with songwriter Jay Farrar at the helm, will begin recording their fourth full length album at the end of September. Following a five-year hiatus, with the exception of the April 2004 recording of “Sometimes” for the Alejandro Escovedo tribute album, multi-instrumentalist Dave Boquist, bassist Jim Boquist and drummer Mike Heidorn will reconvene at Farrar’s St. Louis studio. Speaking about the “Sometimes” session, Farrar says: “It felt like we hit the ground running when we recorded Al’s song for Por Vida. Five years seemed like five days at that point. It proved that more recording and performing as Son Volt is something that should happen.”
I can’t wait. Jack Sparks seems excited also. Hell, Ken Layne even comes in from Move On Cuckoo Land to comment on the news.
In my opinion, Son Volt’s Trace CD is pretty much a standard of the genre. One can come up with all sorts of lists of important alt-country CDs and artists, but it’s hard to imagine leaving Trace or Son Volt off any of those lists. Farrar’s post-Son Volt stuff has been interesting enough, but I wouldn’t call it genre-defining. I hope he/they can recapture the earlier energy.
I’m looking forward to the release, and associated touring promised for 2005 (if Farrar doesn’t flake out before *sigh*).