Reissue. Son Volt around Jay Farrar is one of the most influential Americana bands. Wonderful alternative country with evocative blues influences. Son Volt was founded in 1994 by Jay Farrar in New Orleans, Louisiana after the dissolution of the band Uncle Tupelo. The band was very influential in the Alternative Country movement of the 1990s, which was the forerunner of what we know today as "Americana". Son Volt's album "Trace" was voted one of the best albums of 1995 by the English-speaking Rolling Stone. The style ranged from quiet folk and country ballads reminiscent of Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding to pub rock like Neil Young with Crazy Horse. They are often compared to the early Wilco, the Jayhawks, and R. E. M. in the Automatic for the People phase. Since 2001, Farrar has released several solo recordings and in 2005 he reformed the band, but none of the former members are still with him. On the Transmit Sounds (via Thirty Tigers) now appears "Notes Of Blue". The album goes through the spirit of the blues, but not in its standard version. The evocative mood on the Mississippi, a Fred McDowell, Skip James and Nick Drake may have served as Farrar's rough starting points.
