Son Volt

American Central Dust
The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail. -William Faulkner, 1950
Trying not to wear hearts on sleeves but that's the way it seems to always be The salt and the steel of the breath Of those not keeping still -Jay Farrar, 2008
After spearheading the alt country movement with Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar pursued his vision with Son Volt, who recorded three landmark albums in the '90s before the groundbreaking artist put the band on extended hiatus and cut three solo LPs. Missing the free exchange of ideas and the surprises that inevitably occur when a group of simpatico musicians lock together, Farrar assembled a new lineup of Son Volt in 2004.
Making solo recordings can be fulfilling, but you quickly become aware of self- capabilities and limitations," says Farrar. "The band dynamic is such that everyone is bringing a diverse amount of experience into play and pushing everyone else-usually into the unknown, but that's a good place to make music.
American Central Dust, Son Volt's third album in four years (Rounder, July 7), following '05's Okemah and the Melody of Riot and '07's The Search, marks the apotheosis of both the Son Volt dynamic and the rigorous aesthetic that distinguishes Farrar's entire body of work, in which classic and contemporary elements are fashioned into arresting new shapes. In the classic sense, the new album exhilaratingly carries on the tradition of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Little Feat circa Sailin' Shoes, the Rolling Stones of Exile on Main Street and early R.E.M. "The approach was to get back to more fundamental themes, both lyrically and musically, to make a more focused record," Farrar explains. "The Search was more about expanding the scope in terms of song structures and instrumentation. This time around, I was going for a kind of simplicity, even in the structure of the songs. I probably learned that from listening to Tom Waits, where simplicity can be a virtue.
As for the contemporary side, "Just like with previous records, I have a daily habit of paying close attention to the news, and some of that does lead its way into the writing," he acknowledges. Written during the summer of 2008, a period when it was becoming increasingly evident that the center would not hold, these 12 songs vividly capture the unease of a people in crisis, as the familiar was becoming surreal and long-held assumptions were in the process of unraveling. An epic lament for the heartland, American Central Dust is populated with readily recognizable characters, the most hopeful of them searching for love against a backdrop of rusted road signs and abandoned factories. In this world of "greys and blues," as Farrar puts it, the intimacies of human relationships are knotted up in predicaments that arise out of struggling to get by while desperately grasping at whatever remnants of the American Dream are still within reach.