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Son Volt at Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA, July 23, 2023,
Jul 28, 2023
Jay Farrar has at all times been a connoisseur of traditional American music, from the rollicking cowl of the Carter Household’s “No Melancholy” on Uncle Tupelo’s 1990 debut to his personal albums of blues and honky-tonk music with Son Volt and his folks music undertaking Gob Iron with Varnaline’s Anders Parker. Basic Americana has at all times been that throughline in Farrar’s music, and his newest undertaking, Day of the Doug, is one other instance, with Farrar and his present Son Volt lineup paying tribute to Doug Sahm in a collection of brilliantly performed covers.
On Sunday evening in Sellersville, PA, Farrar and Son Volt introduced his Day of the Doug undertaking to the stage, alongside together with his tribute to his personal Son Volt debut, Hint, which marks its twenty eighth anniversary and on this evening was performed in its entirety. [A 25th anniversary tour was planned but scuttled due to the COVID pandemic.]
The band began the night with Doug Sahm, starting with the primary single off the tribute album, the jaunty “Typically You’ve Bought to Cease Chasing Rainbows.” Additionally performed had been “Lovely Texas Sunshine” from Sahm’s 1974 Groover’s Paradise album, just a few Sir Douglas Quintet songs, together with “What About Tomorrow” and “Yesterday Bought Within the Manner,” and a pair of tracks from the Doug & The Texas Tornados’ 1976 album, Texas Rock for the Nation Rollers. Solely seven Sahm tunes, making up roughly half-hour, had been performed, two of which weren’t included on the Day of the Doug LP—“Give Again the Key to My Coronary heart” and the spectacular “Mendocino.” It was a becoming tribute to an artist who sadly doesn’t at all times get as a lot due as he ought to. And Farrar is the right particular person to step into the position of bringing Sahm again. The one disgrace was that the Sahm portion of the Son Volt setlist from this evening was not longer.
Instantly following the slide guitar and keyboard-filled “Mendocino,” the band segued into Hint. Revisiting the traditional Son Volt debut, Farrar was stoic as ever on the mic. There weren’t tales shared. There weren’t jovial quips. This was not a storyteller efficiency; somewhat Farrar let the music do the speaking, and what turned clear was that these songs have stood the take a look at of time, sounding as related at this time as they had been nearly 30 years in the past.
Lots of the Hint songs have labored their approach into setlists all through Farrar’s profession, and these classics (e.g., “Windfall,” “Tear Stained Eye,” “Route,” “Drown,” and so on.) had been thrilling, as was the chance to sing alongside to each phrase of each music all through. However maybe extra thrilling had been these end-of-album tracks that had been extra hardly ever carried out dwell. “Too Early” was revelatory with mournful slide guitar, and “Mystifies Me” discovered Farrar turning the Ronnie Wooden traditional, which ends the Hint album correct, ceaselessly into his personal.
After Hint, the band kicked proper into just a few extra Son Volt tracks—“Selecting Up the Sign” from the band’s sophomore album Straightaways, “Driving the View” from its third, Extensive Swing Tremolo, and the gritty “Sinking Down” and introspective “Again Towards the Wall” from Notes of Blue.
Farrar and firm ended the present with covers of The Band’s “The Weight,” in tribute to their enjoying Levon Helm’s studios the evening earlier than, and his personal “Chickamauga” from Uncle Tupelo’s 1993 album, Anodyne, which was rendered like an explosion to finish the night.
In all, Son Volt performed for practically two hours and was a revelation all through. The evening was half revival and half nostalgia. However it was all timeless.
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