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Son Volt is an alternative country group formed by Jay Farrar in 1994 after the breakup of the band Uncle Tupelo.
HistoryThe group formed after Farrar met Jim and Dave Boquist during the final Uncle Tupelo tour. Together with former Uncle Tupelo drummer Mike Heidorn, the band rehearsed and recorded in the Minneapolis area in late 1994. The group performed its first concert at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on June 16, 1995. While half of the band was rooted in the Minneapolis area, Farrar and Heidorn lived in the St. Louis area, and the band used both cities as bases for its operations during the first couple of years.
Hiatus and return Son Volt was dropped from their record label contract with Warner Bros. Records, and announced a hiatus after their 1999 tour. Beginning in 2001, Jay Farrar released several solo efforts that postponed further releases from Son Volt. Farrar reformed with the original members of Son Volt to record a song for a tribute album for Alejandro Escovedo. The sessions reportedly went so well that Farrar and the other band members intended to record once again in the autumn of 2004. Just prior to the sessions, however, negotiations with the other band members apparently reached a standstill when they refused to show up to the planned recording session that Farrar had arranged. Having already booked studio time, Farrar formed a new version of the band with a different line-up and released an album on Transmit Sound/Sony Legacy, Okemah and the Melody of Riot., in 2005
. 2006 saw the release of a live CD and DVD called Six String Belief. In 2007 the band released a studio album called The Search. A new Son Volt album, American Central Dust, was released by Rounder Records on July 7, 2009.
MusicSon Volt's music ranges from quiet folk/country ballads reminiscent of Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding, to barhouse rockers in the spirit of Neil Young with Crazy Horse. Often considered a staple band of the alternative country movement, their music is perhaps better described as genre-spanning traditional American music.
Son Volt's first album, Trace, met with critical acclaim and topped many "best-of" lists in 1995, despite not being a large commercial success. Two follow-up albums (1997's Straightaways and 1998's Wide Swing Tremolo) continued in the same vein. A Retrospective: 1995-2000, released in 2005, gathered highlights from this era, along with previously unreleased recordings.
MembersCurrent members- Jay Farrar (guitar, harmonica, vocals), formerly of Uncle Tupelo
- Dave Bryson (drums)
- Andrew Duplantis (bass guitar, backing vocals)
- James Walbourne (lead guitar)
- Mark Spencer (keyboards, steel guitar)
The new Son Volt line-up began touring March 26, 2007, in support of their album 'The Search,' which was released March 6, 2007 on Transmit Sound/Legacy. Credits for the album include Jay Farrar (vocal, guitar, piano), Dave Bryson (drums), Derry deBorja (keyboards), Andrew Duplantis (bass, backing vocals) and Brad Rice (guitar). Bryson and Duplantis played with the Meat Puppets, first as the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra. Lead guitarist and former member of Jack Ingram's band Chris Masterson replaced Brad Rice as the touring guitarist on the 2007 tour. Mark Spencer, formerly of Blood Oranges and the touring guitarist for many Jay Farrar solo shows, joined Son Volt in 2008 as a keyboardist and steel guitar player. The lineup of Farrar, Duplantis, Bryson, Spencer and Masterson recorded the 2009 album 'American Central Dust'. Guitarist James Walbourne, who also plays lead guitar in The Pretenders, replaced Masterson as the touring guitarist in Summer 2009.
Former members- Derry deBorja (keyboards)
- Brad Rice (guitar)
- Mike Heidorn (drums), formerly of Uncle Tupelo
- Dave Boquist (banjo, fiddle, guitar, lap steel)
- Jim Boquist (bass guitar)
- Chris Masterson (guitar)
- Eric Heywood (mandolin, pedal steel)
Discography- Trace (1995), Warner Bros. Records #166 (US)
- Straightaways (1997), Warner Bros. Records #44 (US)
- Wide Swing Tremolo (1998), Warner Bros. Records #93 (US)
- A Retrospective: 1995-2000 (2005), Warner Bros. Records/Rhino
- Afterglow 61 (2005) EP, Transmit Sounds Records/Legacy Recordings
- Okemah and the Melody of Riot (2005), Transmit Sounds Records/Legacy Recordings #89 (US)
- The Search (March 2007), Transmit Sounds Records/Legacy Recordings #81 (US)
- American Central Dust (July 2009), Rounder Records #44 (US)
Copyright Citations
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