[Earlier Son Volt releases possessed a more composed, controlled atmosphere, which showed off Farrar's songwriting chops well, but the new one has a more pervasive sense of urgency, not just lyrically but also musically. There's an immediacy that's palpable.] We were kind of a new configuration, so there's an edge there, a spontaneity that's basically good, ... Maybe we were aware that this was something special that never happened before? |
A lot of songs were written in about a six-month period that coincided with the run-up to the election. And we were recording it in the fall, just a couple of weeks before the election. The World Series was going on too, I think. Just having that climate in this country at that time, I had to acknowledge some of what was going on at the time. |
After doing the solo records, I was playing a lot of acoustic shows and just began missing the band dynamic. So getting back to Son Volt was, for me, finishing unfinished business. |
but at this point it seems kind of inevitable or unstoppable. |
Having gone through a period of making solo records and performing with just one other guy, Mark Spencer, I really missed the idea of playing in a group dynamic. We're doing a set that is focused on the new album, but we'll be doing other Son Volt material as well -- and we could be going back to Uncle Tupelo, too. |
I don't view it in the terms of a comeback, |
I felt like I just wanted to get back to Son Volt, after having done the solo records. I just began to miss the group dynamic. (Son Volt) has always kind of represented a vehicle for putting out a certain type of songs and songwriting. |
I really wanted to get back to playing electric guitar and being in a band, and regaining that feeling that you get, that sense of camaraderie that goes along with it. |
I think I just sort of felt like with the original incarnation of Son Volt we'd hit a wall, ... I didn't want to necessarily be the person who had to crack the whip to try to push people in a certain direction that they didn't want to go. |
I think we've both gone through that period -- people yelling out for my songs at his shows and yelling for his songs at my shows, but that's kinda died down. |
I'm glad we were able to do that [tribute] for Alejandro. That's sort of a last positive effort that we all contributed to. I think it was just a good way to go out. |
It was a hugely devastating situation for me. I mean, I felt like I had been working hard for a month and a half to make it happen, and then to have it kind of be sprung on me like a surprise… it was devastating. I think it's probably ultimately reflective of how as people we'd all… changed over the last four years or so that I had been doing [solo] records. I guess the whole dynamic of the band had changed and people had developed different priorities, I think. |
It's not done yet, |
Jet Pilot. If it were really about (Bush), I would have mentioned his name. |
My son loves [Guthrie's] 'Deportee,' ... and he's going through a lot of those old songs. I was exposed to his music early on as a kid through my folks, and now I'm coming back to it full circle with my kids reading his books and listening to his CDs. He's got all that kid-oriented material. |