Son Volt: Higher Ground, South Burlington, VT 9/21/09

Son Volt played a brilliantly paced set at Higher Ground on 9/21, that unlike the group’s last appearance at the Vermont venue in spring of 2007 where Jay Farrar and company struggled to gain traction, the quintet leapt into action with "The Picture" and were blazing away by the time they finished roughly two and half-hours later.

As on the haunting new album American Central Dust, Farrar played mostly acoustic guitar on the last night of summer, while mixing guitars, keyboards and pedal steel. "Highways and Cigarettes was just one number where the band, propelled by bassist Andrew Duplantis and Dave Bryson, sounded  in constant forward motion.

Moving inexorably though songs like "When the Wheels Don’t Move," it’s clear the intelligence of the lyrics matches the haunting quality of its melody. There’s a certain sameness to his material apart from that consistent virtue: his preference for mid-tempo can be monotonous if it doesn’t mesmerize. More often than not, as on his striking homage to Keith Richards, "Cocaine and Ashes," the effect was riveting: no wonder the ballroom crowd stayed at such rapt attention throughout the show.
 

As Farrar played electric guitars through the home stretch of the set, Son Volt  shifted to  high gear. The leader’s crisp authoritative rhythm work contrasted Mark Spencer’s pedal steel and electric keyboards, especially when the Burlington resident opted for organ rather than the rare electric piano. The way guitarist James Walbourne gracefully followed the contours of the melody on the tribute to Jack Kerouac, "Big Sur," belied some of his later contortions playing his Telecaster of black solid body guitar.

Equally effective on lap steel, Walbourne’s frenzied solos became more and more extended in the last half-hour, as did Farrar’s own immersion in the sound of his instrument. At this point in the show Son Volt was riding the momentum they’d generated and, as "Action" gave way to "Roll On," there was no mistaking Jay Farrar’s intent to rouse his listeners. He may be too diffident and matter of fact for his own good (thought he was sincere in his repeated thanks to the crowd) but when he gets his band fully in motion as they were in closing with Waylon Jennings’ outlaw country number, "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way," it’s hard not be moved.

SETLIST
The Picture
Feel Free
Underground Dream
Down to the Wire
Dust of Daylight
Highways and Cigarettes
Cocaine and Ashes
When the Wheels Don’t Move
Ten Second News
Dynamite
Pushed Too Far
Jukebox of Steel
[banter]
Big Sur
Methamphetamine
[band introductions]
Tear Stained Eye
Strength and Doubt
No Turning Back
Hard Times
Medication
Damn Shame
The Search
Buzz & Grind
Bandages & Scars
Afterglow 61
[encore break]
Action
Roll On
Windfall
Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way (Waylon Jennings)