This band, initially consisting of former Uncle Tupelo members Jay Farrar (guitar, vocals, songwriting) and Mike Heidorn (drums), along with Dave Boquist (guitar, banjo, fiddle, lap steel) and his brother Jim Boquist (bass, backing vocals) have remained truest to the old Uncle Tupelo sound, blending beautiful, quiet and often stark acoustic songs with noisy, searing country-punk flavored rock songs, all fueled by Jay's timeless and incomparable voice. They're still the only band around that can make me weep at the beauty of some of their songs as well as damage my hearing during the same show.
The current lineup as of 2007 is Jay, Dave Bryson (drums), Derry DeBorja (keyboards), Andrew Duplantis (bass, backing vocals) and Brad Rice (guitar on the new album The Search) and Chris Masterson (touring guitarist). We had feared taht the band was pretty much a thing of the past; Jay was doing solo work with various backup musicians, and Mike Heidorn has once again retired from the music business. Fortunately the band is back, albeit a different one, but they're sounding fantastic.
As we're dependent on the kindness of strangers for the chord/tab transcriptions (the guts of this page), the page is always incomplete ... but we're workin' on it.
Jay's current web site is at jayfarrar.net, so keep an eye on that for more details on his current goings-on.
Live Musical Performances, &c.
- An interview with Jay from WXRT in Chicago, September 24, 2001 which includes live performances of "Feel Free" and "Voodoo Candle". To quell any fears anyone may have, during this interview Jay said that Son Volt has not broken up, but that he just felt the time was right to try something different.
- Download an MP3 of "Voodoo Candle", from Sebastopol
- Son Volt performed live on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic", on March 25, 1996 (with interview). Listen via RealAudio.
- If you need it, down the latest version of the RealAudio player from http://www.real.com.
News, articles and other stuff about Son Volt and Jay Farrar
- "Outside the Door" and St. Louis blues: the aforementioned song from Sebastopol references lots of St. Louis history, neighborhoods long gone and many local blues musicians from years past. Here's a look at the story behind the references.
- A new interview with Jay Farrar during his Sebastopol solo tour, which finds him in good humor and fine spirits.
- Don't Fence Me In: excellent interview with Jay Farrar from the Durham Independent, October 3, 2001.
- Jay Farrar's solo album Sebastopol was
released on September 25, 2001, and will be followed by a
tour.
- An interview with Dave Boquist, upon the release of Wide Swing Tremolo
- A review of Trace from the almost-hometown newspaper, the St. Louis Riverfront Times, September 20-26, 1995
Chord, tab and lyric transcriptions
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Songs from Trace
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Songs from Wide Swing Tremolo
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Songs from SebastopolIf you've figured out any of the songs from this new album, please send 'em in!
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Special thanks to song transcribers Frank Crockard, John Erlinger, Mike Hattem, Tyler Ingram, Jim Kirby, Marcel Levi, Nathan Milner, Timothy Minneci, Willie Seibert, Stan Tangeman, Neil W. Young, and especially Dave Shapiro; to Brian Moore, and to lyrics tweaker Amy Tompkins.
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