Son Volt: Okemah And The Melody Of Riot : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On his recent solo albums, Son Volt leader Jay Farrar suffered from a serious case of the vagues, outfitting his half-legible folkie tunes with hazy atmospherics and gazing at American history like it was a Rorschach test. Those shortcomings make Okemah and the Melody of Riot especially welcome: As the first album in seven years credited to Son Volt, the band Farrar formed after the demise of alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo, Okemah replaces Farrar's indulgence with a gently rocking back-porch feel. With the help of three new bandmates, Farrar turns out thirteen elegantly wasted, begrudgingly tuneful songs: He rides to ragged glory on "6 String Belief" and turns "Afterglow 61" into an apt soundtrack for a summer road trip. Farrar drowns his sorrows on mellower cuts such as "Atmosphere," but by finding the right mix of pastoral beauty and bar-band swagger, Okemah usually keeps his head well above water.