![]() ![]() More importantly, Farrar selected a great bunch of tunes. While it first seemed remarkable to these ears that Son Volt could play these tunes without an accordion, their instrumentation doesn’t stray too far from Sahm’s ‘60s configurations of guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bajo sexto, dobro, drums, and piano. Sahm himself was apparently an accomplished steel guitar player by the age of five and later taught himself to play fiddle and mandolin. Suffice to say that Sahm kept esteemed company. As a side note, that version had Flaco Jimenez on accordion, Augie Meyers on piano, David Bromberg on dobro, and Andy Statman on mandolin. ![]() Not that this writer professes to be all that knowledgeable about Sahm’s catalog, but the only tune recognized was “Poison Love,” not written by Sahm but having appeared in a collection of his greatest hits. Brad Sarno guest on pedal steel for “Beautiful Texas Sunshine” and Gary Hunt on fiddle for “Dynamite Woman.” Farrar doesn’t take the usual route however and instead largely picks Sahm’s overlooked songs in the period from the late ‘60s through the ‘70s. Here, the revamped Son Volt with all members in tow including drummer Mark Patterson and new guitarist John Horton, honor Sahm with a dozen tunes. Sahm sang with Farrar on the final Uncle Tupelo album Anodyne (1993), a landmark album in the alt-country movement, when they recorded Sahm’s “Give Back the Key to My Heart.” Far more importantly though, were Sahm’s contributions to blurring the genres of rock, R&B, country, folk, Tex-Mex and psychedelia, some of which endures through bands like The Bottle Rockets, Tremoloco, and even the Band of Heathens. In any case, Farrar had a personal connection as both a friend and a mentor with the larger-than-life character Doug Sahm who had a brief fling with fame with his Top 40 hits fronting the Sir Douglas Quintet. Maybe it’s because bassist Andrew DuPlantis who takes lead vocal on two tracks, and to a lesser extent, keyboardist/guitarist Mark Spencer sings with Farrar on most selections so that we’re hearing more than one voice most of the time. The lonely, weary, burnished voice of leader Jay Farrar does not dominate the sound in the way it does on most of the band’s offerings. Surely, it’s a tribute to the Tex-Mex stylings of Doug Sahm but that’s not the point. A pity really as Farrar’s words and concerns are judicious.Day of the Doug is the Son Volt album that doesn’t sound like a Son Volt album until we reach the last two tracks. While ‘Lady Liberty’, not by any means, fast paced, can offer up a decent trot, ‘Rebel Girl’ just tends to plod along. However, elsewhere there’s a lack of vitality as Farrar’s familiar voice rarely burns and there’s little variety in the tempos. There’s a strong opening number in the shape of ‘While Rome Burns’, another stab at the moneymen in charge and ‘Holding Your Own’ features some fine playing especially from Mark Spencer on lap steel. They say these children they too must go but their home is here, not Mexico.” It’s a bleak song with only acoustic guitar, accordion and occasional percussion adorning it and it’s the most moving number here. “They say I’m a criminal, that’s what they say, my children born, in the USA. ![]() ![]() Here Farrar sings of a Mexican immigrant living in Monterey whose ten years of hard graft and honest work counts for nothing. ‘The 99’ is a vocally scathing take down of the corporate nightmare and rampant capitalism with Farrar noting, “the 99 per cent have been taken for a ride” while on ‘Lady Liberty’ he sings, “Lady Liberty’s tears, may you wash away the prejudice.” It’s noteworthy that several of the album’s songs were recorded at the Woody Guthrie Centre in Tulsa, Oklahoma as Guthrie does come to mind especially on the closing song ‘The Symbol’. With the finger pointing kept to a minimum it’s those most affected by the political climate who are championed here. ‘Union’ is not a protest album, there are no street fighting anthems here and the names of the guilty are not mentioned, but when he sings, “Proud to serve but not this president,” on ‘Reality Winner’, it’s not hard to guess his inner thoughts even though the song is ostensibly about a whistleblower jailed for leaking classified documents. On ‘Union’ that changes as he here turns to topical concerns, setting out what is essentially his state of the union address. While Jay Farrar might be considered as being pretty grounded when it comes to singing about familiar folk themes he’s never been a political writer. ![]()
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