Son Volt recently premiered two new songs—“Back Against the Wall” and "Lost Souls"—from their upcoming album, Notes of Blue. You can stream them both below.
They've also announced a spring 2017 tour, and you can check out those dates below.
After two solid albums packed with alt-country (2009's American Central Dust) and modern honky-tonk (2013's Honky Tonk), the 10 songs on Notes of Blue are inspired by the blues, but not the standard blues as most of us know it. The unique and haunting tunings of Mississippi Fred McDowell, Skip James and Nick Drake were all points of exploration for frontman Jay Farrar.
Notes of Blue reflects the blues as it lives in the folk tradition—albeit heavily amplified. It opens with the country soul of “Promise the World," followed by “Back Against the Wall.” The primal stomp of “Cherokee St.,” the frenetic guitar of “Static” and the raw slide in “Sinking Down” exude grit and attitude. “The Storm” and “Cairo and Southern” meld blues with hypnotic melodies that add a unique balance to the new disc.
“'Back Against the Wall' came out of an acoustic-oriented batch of songs I was working on at the same time as the blues-inspired songs," Farrar told Garden & Gun. "It got amped up along the way and really represented a chance for me to get back to playing electric guitar. That’s an old Magnatone amp on the lead guitar sections. Among this group of songs, 'Back Against the Wall' came to represent a rally song of sorts.
"The impetus for 'Lost Souls' is something I’ve been thinking about for years, going back to [when I was] starting out," Farrar added. "It was like a pattern whereby you’d meet and see amazingly talented and creative bands and performers along the way and then you’d never hear of them again. For whatever reasons, a combination of forces took them out of circulation. 'Lost Souls' is a song to them—to the one’s you’d hoped to see again but never did."
Notes of Blue will be released February 17 via Thirty Tigers.
For more about Son Volt and the new album, visit sonvolt.net.
SON VOLT 2017 TOUR DATES
March 2 – Little Rock, AR – Rev Room
March 3 – Dallas, TX – Kessler Theater
March 4 – Austin, TX – Scoot Inn
March 5 – Houston, TX – Heights Theater
March 7 – Jackson, MS – Duling Hall
March 8 – New Orleans, LA – Parish
March 9 – Birmingham, AL – WorkPlay
March 10 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
March 11 – Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom
March 12 – Charlotte, NC – Visulite
March 14 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle
March 15 – Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre
March 16 – Chattanooga, TN – Revelry Room
March 17 – Nashville, TN – 3rd & Lindsley
March 18 – St. Louis, MO – Pageant
March 28 – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads Saloon
March 29 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
March 30 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
March 31 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Ballroom
April 1 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
April 2 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
April 4 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Small's
April 5 – Ardmore, PA – Ardmore Music Hall
April 6 – Boston, MA – Paradise
April 7 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
April 8 – Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade
April 9 – Tarrytown, NY – Tarrytown Music Hall
April 11 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
April 12 – Rocky Mount, VA – Harvester Performance
April 13 – Newark, OH – Thirty One West
April 14 – Cincinnati, OH – Southgate House
April 15 – Louisville, KY – Headliner's
April 28 – Indio, CA – Stagecoach Festival
