It seems ages ago since Jay Farrar and his reconfigured Son Volt lineup drew upon the elemental genre of the country for Honky Tonk (released 3/5/13). Without a shred of contrivance in this hearty reclamation of roots, they achieved and maintained an ever-so-precarious balance of euphoric music offset with deceptively despairing lyrics. In doing so, the ensemble effectively set the stage for the next phase of an enduring and increasingly stable career progression.
The swinging and swaying of the fiddles so prominent throughout the album make their debut on “Hearts and Minds.” Bereft of the topicality that made Son Volt’s Rounder debut, American Dust, so powerful, the material here is likewise free of emotional cliches, to the degree that, when Jay sings of “…the simple truth,” he almost immediately gives the lie to the phrase when he refers to “…waiting for love…and that sign of danger.”
Pedal steel rings briefly on that cut and, played so smartly by producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Spencer, its sweet bright sounds also weave in and out of “Brick Walls.” The doleful quality in Farrar’s voice is an accurate reflection of the unique instrument when it emits more sad strains on “Wild Side:” the darker tone effectively offsets the ominous images within the preceding title and its refrain.
Conversely, the cover graphics of Honky Tonk find their counterpart in “Down the Highway.” Reminiscent of the best originals Farrar wrote for Uncle Tupelo in the use of familiar symbols to accurately convey complex emotion, the following cut, “Bakersfield,” may not function of the centerpiece of this album in the track sequencing, but its reference is otherwise most fitting: it is knowing allusion to the home of the archetypal modern country band Buck Owens & The Buckaroos. In both practical and metaphorical terms, Jay Farrar and Son Volt are thus homing in on the stylistic source of their new music.
The tradeoffs there between electric guitar and pedal steel represent the band’s deliberate choice to embrace its roots. In aligning himself with this particular record label, as well as eschewing, at least temporarily, the more contemporary sound of previous Son Volt efforts–not to mention that broad eclecticism of his former partner Jeff Tweedy and his brainchild Wilco–Jay Farrar offer yet another implicit statement of independence in a career full of them.
A modified waltz called “Livin’ On,” features organ, harmonica, and another of the very few appearances of electric guitar, thus standing as an object lesson in what the author calls the “reckless side of tradition.” By the time “Angel of the Blues” appears here near the home stretch of the recording’s thirty-six-plus minutes of playing time, the track’s acoustic piano offers yet another new texture to the sound.
At this point, however, Honky Tonk has become less an exercise in style than a personal expression of intent from Jay Farrar. As a result, the final two fundamentally positive tracks, “Barricades” and “Shine On,” act as final punctuation to the statement this album represents: Son Volt and its leader know exactly what they’re doing in conceiving and executing Honky Tonk.
Farrar and the company’s subsequent efforts are a direct extension of that shared sense of purpose. With the hindsight of a decade, it appears the two-album stint on Rounder was Jay’s means of rediscovering two essential components of his music in the form of discerning social awareness and abiding loyalty to decidedly contemporary country music.
Not surprisingly, the man decided to release his subsequent efforts via his own independent imprint Transmit Sound. In doing so, he picked right up where he left off four years later with Notes of Blue, proffering a set of songs rooted in blues and folk music leavened with dollops of electricity. Thus in tandem with the continuity of production, the topical nature of his next two albums render 2019’s Union and 2021’s Electro Melodier companion pieces in both style and sentiment.
As much or more than any other instruments in the arrangements of the material, electric guitars mirror the sharp observations in Jay Farrar’s lyrics throughout those two LPs. As such, his and Son Volt’s approach is nothing less than a reconfiguring of the durable modernization of country suggested by Honky Tonk ten years ago.
