REVIEW: Gob Iron "Death Songs for the Living"

Rating: 7.5

In 1997 I saw Son Volt at the Fillmore in San Francisco on their Straightaways tour, and they were great. The show introduced me to opening act Varnaline fronted convincingly by this guy Anders Parker. I caught a couple of Farrar's solo shows in the years that followed. Each stripped down, largely acoustic set showcased Farrar's voice and guitar playing - always underestimated - and the strong supporting role of sideman Parker. Like you, I sensed the possibility of something new, something which now has a name. Gob Iron.

I looked it up.  Gob Iron is old fashioned folksy British slang for harmonica. Not that it makes the name any less awful. I think it was chosen to keep with Farrar's penchant for unlikely sounding three letters then four while referencing the arcane musical name (Son Volt). Coincidence? Probably.

Death Songs fits nicely into Farrar's catalog as a possible bookend to Uncle Tupelo's March 16-20, 1992. It is simple, moving, clear and heart-felt folk music offering new reads on old tunes and themes. The album's structure situates brief instrumentals between each proper song acting as prelude to sepia toned portraits of the way friends used to - and thankfully still do - make music.

REVIEW: Son Volt "The Search"

Rating: 4

Two years ago Jay Farrar revived Son Volt with a retuned crew and offered up Okemah and the Melody of Riot.  It was a politicized look back to his earlier guitar driven, plugged-in troubador sound and offered a glimmer of hope to this dyed in the wool fan for the return of insurgent country's oaken heart and bared teeth.  I played The Search with these same high hopes -  and was immediately deflated.  The album leads off with "Slow Hearse," a piano scale with psychish Beatles guitar decorations over the lyric "Feels like driving 'round in a slow hearse" repeated like a mantra.  Okay, intro track, skip it.  Track two starts with a flat take on Memphis horns and proves, like most of the album, to be unexciting, overly verbose and lost in its own philosophy.  Disappointing to say the least, especially considering Farrar's excellent work with Anders Parker (Varnaline) as Gob Iron.

I try to be charitable and Farrar's place in my musical pantheon was cemented long ago with No Depression and again with Trace  so I tried The Search a few times and it's not a bad album.  It's just not a very good one either.  "Action" almost gets it right with a nod to swampy rhythms and growling organs but Farrar's always appealing, laid back tenor hits a pitch too sincere and worried to really rock.  A few tunes make the cut for a passable mid-tempo alt-rock background shuffle but nothing quite manages to percolate to the surface.  Maybe it's one of those things that needs time to settle in or find some sort of personal resonance.  I'm still a fan, just not of this album.  Not yet anyway.