Rating:

Jay Farrar has reunited Son Volt – sort of. For the band’s first release of new material in seven years, Farrar has assembled a crack team of alt. country sidemen, including ex-Whiskeytown guitarist Brad Rice, but none of the original Son Volt members. That said, the band was always Farrar’s baby anyway, so the difference is negligible. On Okemah and the Melody of Riot, Farrar is in fine form, weaving historical references and political jabs into his lyrics and setting them to a strong set of country-rock. OatMoR probably won’t win over any converts that weren’t already interested in the band, but it is probably the band’s strongest release since 1995’s Trace.

Buy album

– Kevin

This 3-beetsreview was posted on August 29th, 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.