Pitchfork: Son Volt to Release Album, Compilation, DVD

Son Volt to Release Album, Compilation, DVD

You'll be pleased to hear that Jay Farrar's campaign to revive Son Volt will not be stopped by a minor issue like the indifference of his old bandmates. Using a weathered cast of alt-country veterans, including guitarist Brad Rice (ex-Ryan Adams), bassist Andrew Duplantis (ex-Meat Puppets), and drummer Dave Bryson (of sometime Farrar-backers Canyon), the new Son Volt will release Okemah and the Melody of Riot via Legacy Recordings on July 12. Guest musicians include pedal steel peddler Eric Heywood (who has played with Son Volt before, along with Calexico), electric slide guitarist John Horton, and multi-instrumentalist Mark Spencer. Produced by Farrar and recorded in St. Louis last October, the album sports song titles thick with Farrar's usual rustic melancholy:

01 Bandages & Scars
02 Afterglow 61
03 Jet Pilot
04 Atmosphere
05 Ipecac
06 Who
07 Endless War
08 Medication
09 6 String Belief
10 Gramophone
11 Chaos Streams
12 World Waits for You
12 World Waits for You (Reprise)

If you just can't wait to hear the new songs, you'll have to be in the following places at the appropriate times. What, you don't live in Aarhus? Boo hoo:

04-15 New York, NY - Housing Works Bookstore & Cafe (Jay Farrar solo)
04-22 Brugge, Belgium - Cactus
04-23 Utrecht, Netherlands - Blue Highways
04-24 Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
04-25 Malmo, Sweden - KB
04-26 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
04-27 Gothenburg, Sweden - Pusterviksbaren
04-29 Kilkenny, Ireland - Carlsberg Rhythm & Roots Weekend
04-30 Kilkenny, Ireland - Carlsberg Rhythm & Roots Weekend
05-02 London, England - Carling Academy Islington
05-03 Oslo, Norway - Muddy Waters
05-04 Bergen, Norway - Bergen Fest
05-21 Philadelphia, PA - AAA-Nomcomvention at Tower Theatre
06-17 Lawrence, KS - Wakarusa Festival
06-19 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre

That's all well and good, you say, but Son Volt have been dormant for a few years now, and the echoes of their legacy might be fading from the ears of the public. Hence a new Rhino Records anthology, gathering up both album tracks and rarities (demos, live cuts, outtakes, the usual) into a handy precis of the band's Warner Brothers years. Originally announced as a double-disc set back in February, Son Volt: A Retrospective 1995-2000 will hit stores May 24 with the following one-disc assortment of vintage Voltage:

01 Drown
02 Windfall
03 Route
04 Rex's Blues
05 Looking at the World Through a Windshield
06 Too Early
07 Back Into Your World
08 Picking Up the Signal
09 I've Got to Know
10 Creosote
11 Straightface
12 Tulsa County
13 Driving the View
14 Ain't No More Cane
15 Flow
16 Holocaust
17 Tear Stained Eye (demo)
18 Loose String (demo)
19 Medicine Hat (live acoustic)
20 Open All Night

Finally, New West Records will release a DVD of Son Volt's 1997 Austin City Limits performance on May 10, as part of their series of ACL video releases. The disc features the full, unedited performance, not the trimmed-down 30-minute version originally shown on PBS.