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Jul 28, 2023 By Frank Valish

Jay Farrar has always been a connoisseur of classic American music, from the rollicking cover of the Carter Family’s “No Depression” on Uncle Tupelo’s 1990 debut to his own albums of blues and honky-tonk music with Son Volt and his folk music project Gob Iron with Varnaline’s Anders Parker. Classic Americana has always been that throughline in Farrar’s music, and his latest project, Day of the Doug, is another example, with Farrar and his current Son Volt lineup paying tribute to Doug Sahm in a series of brilliantly played covers.

On Sunday night in Sellersville, PA, Farrar and Son Volt brought his Day of the Doug project to the stage, along with his tribute to his own Son Volt debut, Trace, which marks its 28th anniversary and on this night was played in its entirety. [A 25th anniversary tour was planned but scuttled due to the COVID pandemic.]

The band started the evening with Doug Sahm, beginning with the first single off the tribute album, the jaunty “Sometimes You’ve Got to Stop Chasing Rainbows.” Also played were “Beautiful Texas Sunshine” from Sahm’s 1974 Groover’s Paradise album, a few Sir Douglas Quintet songs, including “What About Tomorrow” and “Yesterday Got In the Way,” and a pair of tracks from the Doug & The Texas Tornados’ 1976 album, Texas Rock for the Country Rollers. Only seven Sahm tunes, making up approximately 30 minutes, were played, two of which were not included on the Day of the Doug LP—“Give Back the Key to My Heart” and the spectacular “Mendocino.” It was a fitting tribute to an artist who unfortunately does not always get as much due as he should. And Farrar is the perfect person to step into the role of bringing Sahm back. The only shame was that the Sahm portion of the Son Volt setlist from this night was not longer.

Immediately following the slide guitar and keyboard-filled “Mendocino,” the band segued into Trace. Revisiting the classic Son Volt debut, Farrar was stoic as ever at the mic. There were not stories shared. There were not jovial quips. This was not a storyteller performance; rather Farrar let the music do the talking, and what became clear was that these songs have stood the test of time, sounding as relevant today as they were almost 30 years ago.

Many of the Trace songs have worked their way into setlists throughout Farrar’s career, and these classics (e.g., “Windfall,” “Tear Stained Eye,” “Route,” “Drown,” etc.) were thrilling, as was the opportunity to sing along to every word of every song throughout. But perhaps more exciting were those end-of-album tracks that were more rarely performed live. “Too Early” was revelatory with mournful slide guitar, and “Mystifies Me” found Farrar turning the Ronnie Wood classic, which ends the Trace album proper, forever into his own.

After Trace, the band kicked right into a few additional Son Volt tracks—“Picking Up the Signal” from the band’s sophomore album Straightaways, “Driving the View” from its third, Wide Swing Tremolo, and the gritty “Sinking Down” and introspective “Back Against the Wall” from Notes of Blue.

Farrar and company ended the show with covers of The Band’s “The Weight,” in tribute to their playing Levon Helm’s studios the night before, and his own “Chickamauga” from Uncle Tupelo’s 1993 album, Anodyne, which was rendered like an explosion to end the evening.

In all, Son Volt played for nearly two hours and was a revelation throughout. The night was part revival and part nostalgia. But it was all timeless.

(www.sonvolt.net)