The Son Volt that took the stage at the Fox Theatre was not the same one that played on the band’s three ’90s albums. He still retains a hardcore fan base, and it’s a mistake to dismiss his recent solo records outright, but the spark of brilliance seems to have left him.In order to jumpstart his creativity and career, Farrar has reformed Son Volt, after over five years of inactivity. Meanwhile, since the release of the first Son Volt record, 1995’s masterful Trace, Farrar’s stature has diminished considerably. The difference in venues illuminated the unexpected career paths Farrar and his erstwhile comrade Jeff Tweedy have followed since the breakup of their former band.Tweedy and Wilco have seen their star rise steadily, despite (or perhaps because of) radical shifts in sound and style.
Wilco and Son Volt simply came to town to play their respective gigs-the former at the massive Red Rocks Amphitheater and the latter at the decidedly less massive Fox Theatre. He may have stifled most of it in his subsequent recorded output, but all that bottled up anger has gotta resurface sometime, right? If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on Son Volt.Alas, my daydream of a knock down, drag out alt-country brawl on the streets of Boulder was not to be. But listen to Jay Farrar on those early Tupelo records-you’ll hear that he’s got some serious rage in that voice of his. Sure, Wilco’s current six-piece lineup has the number advantage over Son Volt’s four-piece.
It was as though the bands, both rising over a decade ago from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo, were going to stage a ritualistic gang fight.”Who would win?” I wondered. Wilco” was the headline last week in one of Boulder’s daily newspapers heralding the concurrent arrival of the two groups to the area.
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