Other than their now legendary first Madison show at an extremely oversold O’Cayz Corral, I’d seen Son Volt every time they came to town from their first record through their third. Leader Jay Farrar has a gorgeous voice, but zero stage presence, and their shows often seemed tedious and uninspired. The only sign of assertiveness I’d seen in him was when during a solo show at Luther’s Blues he told a talkative group in front of the stage to shut up. When Farrar called it quits on version one of the band I wasn’t too upset; after all, I was having a hard time remembering why I kept going to see them. So it may seem a bit of a surprise that I’ve been to several Son Volt shows in the last couple years. One reason is a friend who numbers them in her top five bands; the other is bass player Andrew Duplantis. Duplantis played with Jon Dee Graham for many years before being tagged as SV version 2.0 bassist. I got to know him during his time with Jon Dee, and his smile is almost reason enough to see Son Volt.
Now there are two more. The Blood Oranges’ Mark Spencer, who once initiated an ill-fated late night clock repair in my kitchen, is now playing pedal steel and keyboards. He is an undisputed master of the former, the only better steel player I know is Eric Heywood (who coincidentally played with Son Volt on the Straightaways tour), and it was wonderful to hear him tonight. Unfortunately he is also playing the latter, and his grandiose accompaniment made me miss Derry deBorja’s subtler playing. The lead guitarist position has been a revolving door with virtuosos Brad Rice, Chris Frame and Chris Masterson all filling the position with their often over-the-top playing. Currently in the lead guitarist position is someone I can get excited about. James Walbourne is a busy man, playing with the Pernice Brothers and Peter Bruntnell for years. Now I hear he’s been playing with the Pretenders so much that they consider him a full-time member of the band. Thank goodness he got some time off from all those projects to play with Son Volt. The lankily handsome Brit made choosing which side of the stage to stand on more difficult than usual.
With so much to watch on stage, the extensive set flew by. It wasn’t until later that I realized I knew very few of the songs they played. Since I haven’t bought any of the records from the reformed Son Volt, nor have I listened much to the copies I have, the omnipresent “Tear-Stained Eye” and “Windfall” were essentially it. What was surprising is how much the set actually rocked, which I attribute to new release American Central Dust However, the newest song in the set wasn’t even released yet. “Big Sur” will be featured on a soundtrack which sets Jack Keroauc’s words to music. The project is a collaboration between Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, and the short tour will likely introduce Son Volt to a whole new demographic- the college students who treat each new DCforC release as the second coming. The song wasn’t particularly impressive tonight, but I am willing to give the record and the show a chance based solely on the unlikeliness of the collaboration
However the best part of the show may have come afterwards. We had been hanging around the side door talking to Andrew when he invited us downstairs. I’ve been backstage at a few venues, and other than the Rave’s bizarre opium den, none of them have been very impressive. However, the Pabst really knows how to treat their artists right. Andrew offered us a beverage from a cooler well stocked with beer and soda (including Squirt which made Michelle very happy. There were couches and bean bag chairs, a phonograph with a stack of cheesy cool records like Harry Belafonte and Chick Corea, the latter of whom James amusingly called a wanker. There were games to satisfy everyone’s inner child including Operation and Rockem’ Sockem’ Robots, along with stack of Etch-a-Sketches and an assortment of 8 Ball toys. Andrew and I engaged in an interesting dialogue using the Sarcastic Ball and the Affirmation Ball, which went something like this, “Nice outfit!” “As if!” “You look fantastic today” “And I’m the pope.”
I teased Mark Spencer about my clock still being broken, and I also got a chance to talk to the opener Sera Cahoone about the last time they played Madison with Blake Thomas opening and accidentally loaded out his guitar and took it to Madison. Her opening set was pretty but a little sleepy, I enjoyed talking to her later much more. In fact, from dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery with Rob and Laura to the drive home, there wasn’t anything about the night I didn’t enjoy.
Sera Cahoone
Son Volt
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