Jay Farrar titled the first new Son Volt studio album in four years Notes of Blue (Thirty Tigers), and he’s explained that the record was inspired by the spirit of the blues, with certain songs employing tunings used by the likes of Skip James and Mississippi Fred McDowell. But it only takes a few seconds of the opening track, “Promise the World,” with its oozing pedal-steel washes from Jason Kardong undergird Farrar’s plaintive moan, to hear that Son Volt haven’t changed direction.…
Jay Farrar titled the first new Son Volt studio album in four years Notes of Blue (Thirty Tigers), and he’s explained that the record was inspired by the spirit of the blues, with certain songs employing tunings used by the likes of Skip James and Mississippi Fred McDowell. But it only takes a few seconds of the opening track, “Promise the World,” with its oozing pedal-steel washes from Jason Kardong undergird Farrar’s plaintive moan, to hear that Son Volt haven’t changed direction.…