Son Volt Announce Blues-Inspired New Album

Son Volt will release their eight studio album in February: The seminal alt-country band announced their plans for Notes of Blue on Wednesday (Nov. 16).

Due out on Feb. 17, Notes of Blue will feature 10 tracks inspired by "the spirit of the blues, but not the standard blues as most know it," a press release explains. Rather, the release notes, Son Volt frontman Jay Farrar was inspired by artists such as Mississippi Fred McDowell, Skip James and Nick Drake, and blues music in the folk genre.

The songs on Notes of Blue will explore the themes of redemption and struggle. A track listing for Notes of Blue has not yet been revealed, but the press release mentions tunes including "Promise the World," "Back Against the Wall," "Cherokee St.," "Static," "Sinking Down," "The Storm" and "Cairo and Southern;" the record's other three tracks were not named.

Led by Farrar — founding member and co-frontman of alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo -- Son Volt formed in 1994 and released three albums (1995's Trace, 1997's Straightaways and 1998's Wide Swing Tremolo) before a hiatus following their 1999 tour. The band's next new album, 2005's Okemah and the Melody of Riot, featured a new lineup.

Son Volt's most recent studio album came in 2013 (Honky Tonk), though a 20th anniversary edition of Trace was released in October of 2015. At that time, Farrar told The Boot that he'd "written 10 or 12 songs that I think could fall in the Son Volt band framework," and that 2016 could bring the release of that new music.

"Son Volt is the framework that I enjoy working in. I like to take breaks from it, but I also like getting back to it," Farrar says. "I think it goes back to what inspired me to get into music, that band framework, as well as playing more acoustic-based solo stuff like Bob Dylan or being inspired by someone like Bob Dylan. I’ll always go between the band framework and the more solo-oriented stuff; it’s just a matter of where the songs seem to want to go."

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