![]() ![]() ![]() When our October 2021 festival came around, Son Volt wasn’t available. We sat out all of 2020 and the first half of 2021. Never.įive years later, our little organization grew up enough to book Son Volt for the April 2020 festival. Jay was very kind, even conversational, and went as far as to call my dad by his old college nickname, “Fox.” I’ll never forget it. My biggest thrill wasn’t my performance, or hearing his, but introducing my father to Jay Farrar. I’m a hobbyist musician and, in a theme that will become familiar, my friends encouraged me to open the show. We weren’t ready for Son Volt, but we found a way to book Jay Farrar on a solo tour, into Eddie’s Attic (a small club in Decatur), accompanied by Gary Hunt on guitar. So, when me and some friends decided to start a non-profit that would throw concerts and festivals to raise money for the homeless and impoverished, I developed a not-so-secret mission to get Jay Farrar to play one of our shows. And I’ve bought every record the day it came out. I’ve seen Son Volt, I think, every time they’ve come to Athens or Atlanta since 1996. That record includes my all-time favorite Jay Farrar song, “Left A Slide.” That song’s inspired a lot of chills, tears, and –with apologies-rants about its perfection to anyone I could trap in my pick-up truck late at night. I waited in line at Wuxtry Records for the midnight release. I love them all.īy the time the second Son Volt record, “Straightaways,” came out, I was ready. I developed immediate favorites (“Still Be Gone,” “Chickamauga”) and then others that I came to appreciate even more (“Wipe The Clock,” “Steal The Crumbs”). I first went back through the Uncle Tupelo catalogue. The rest of my story with Jay Farrar’s music is predictable. The first decent song I ever wrote, penned in my dorm room at UGA a couple years later, included the lyric, “Give me Jay Farrar and a full tank of gas, and I’ll drive all night.” It’s how I felt. He told the door man he’d make sure I didn’t drink. The first time I saw Son Volt live was in 1996 at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA, my hometown. It’s a perfect riff without sounding “riffy,” like so much other rock music that was around. I am unquestionably passing the old Piggly Wiggly as “Route” is firing up, with those loud, warm, beautiful, guitars that knock you over. In my 1995 Ford Ranger, on the way to Cedar Shoals High School, I can tell you which lyric from “Trace” plays at every fire hydrant, every gas station, every four-way stop. Instead, I paid $9.99 for what must have been a million spins. Farrar would be driving a guitar-shaped Cadillac, thanks to me alone. Then “Tear Stained Eye,” and “Ten Second News,” and “Loose String.” If they paid by the stream back then, Mr. Then I heard “Drown.” Then “Windfall” (!). ![]() But I had insecurities and peer pressures and parties where everything was either AC/DC, Bobby Brown, or Garth Brooks. ![]() My dad loved Uncle Tupelo, but like the early Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle albums he played me, it sounded “too country.” My folks introduced me to everything you would play a kid to “teach” him good music. So, Son Volt’s first album, “Trace,” was my true introduction to Farrar’s music, his lyrics. I had been too young, or too immature to “get” Farrar’s previous band, Uncle Tupelo. Recorded during Son Volt’s 2019 Union tour, these live songs include selections from Son Volt’s Trace, Straightaways, Wide Swing Tremolo, Okemah & the Melody of Riot, The Search, Honky Tonk, Notes of Blue, and Union covers of tracks from Uncle Tupelo and The Rolling Stones plus a couple of songs from Jay’s side project, Gob Iron.Jay Farrar’s music has held court in my soul since I was 16 years old, a junior in high school-still processing the death of Kurt Cobain, wondering if respecting my parents was uncool, growing my hair out a bit, maybe finally getting some attention from girls, worried about my skin. The download is available in several formats. Also included in the album download will be a NEW SINGLE from Son Volt – “These Are The Times”. This release includes 26 live songs for download from the 2020 Union tour. Son Volt has released an exclusive live album 26Live exclusively available via the Son Volt store. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |