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.
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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
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
