OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN: Son Volt, WORLD CAFE LIVE, Noon
BY AMY Z. QUINN It’s difficult to know sometimes whether Jay Farrar is actually enjoying himself up there. The never-excitable singer/songsmith at the front of Son Volt rarely cracks a smile, doesn’t dance and, as per usual, is a man of few-to-no words. But those are the wrong places to look for vital signs with this guy. With Farrar it’s when his left leg starts going, a steady stomp that never gets faster, only pounds harder against the stage while he works out his quiet rage. And what beautiful rage — in a war without a significant body of “protest” music other than Neil Young’s last outing, Farrar penned what is probably the angriest, most articulate anti-Bush screed around, the incendiary “Jet Pilot.” It certainly seems like something the NPR crowd would have eaten up, but the band instead leaned heavily on offerings from the upcoming album The Search. Not that the new disc seems wanting for issues that need working out, taking on the war-profit machine and what it has wrought in both the title track and “The Picture,” which had Farrar stomping away. And if he wasn’t smiling, it’s alright, everyone else sure was. A
[Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA]