Son Volt at Stubb's (aka: Searchin for a Feelin)
The next show I had on my concert calendar was Son Volt at Stubbs. It was Friday, Sept 25, the day after Hayes. 2 problems: it wasn’t free, and I knew Mary wasn’t going to this one. I had planned to go, but as Friday morning hit, I was totally on the fence. I figured I’d just kinda play it by ear. My friends M&L were going, and said I could go w/ them if I wanted. That was good enough. I decided one of the main reasons I was here was to experience great live music, and I have always loved Son Volt, so I decided to go. On the way to the show we had to stop to round up Alejandro Escovedo’s chickens. No foolin. True story. This is a wacky town where things like that happen…
As for Son Volt, I really had no idea what to expect. There was a time when SonVolt was one of my favorite bands. Son Volt’s first 2 albums ‘Trace” and ‘Straightaways’ are still 2 of my favorite albums. The songs hold up well, and Trace in particular evokes all kinds of feelings and memories of times gone by. I like that. When Trace came out it was really unlike anything I’d ever heard before. Steve Earle and The Jayhawks were the only two ‘alt-country’ bands that I knew at that time. I was mostly listening to alt rock, and some old country. Trace was a sort of a mix of the two. And it was awesome. From there I was totally hooked on this “Alt Country” genre, which has since been called No Depression, or Americana, our OKOM, or whatever you want to call it. Whatever it is, that’s what I love most these days. Most of my time is spent listening to THAT kind of music. These days, it seems most people around me have very different tastes in music than I do. Somehow, all of my friends in college loved Trace too. Countless hours were spent at our apt at Mad Manor drinking beers, grilling, and playing horseshoes with Trace on the stereo. Trace became the constant soundtrack to those summer months. I originally bought the album for “Drown” but it didn’t take long to become instantly obsessed with “Tear Stained Eye” and “Windfall”, two of the best songs written in the last 10 years without a doubt. One of the concert highlights of my young, still musically inexperienced adventures was when a handful of friends and I drove from college to my hometown of Charlottesville to see Son Volt at the now defunct Trax in 1996. We stopped by my mom’s house and she fed all us poor college kids heaping helpings of her killer lasagna. We ate so much lasagna that our bellies were so full that we were barely able to force down any beer at all. My friend Adrock to this day still thinks that my Mennonite mom sabotaged us on purpose, cunningly knowing that if we ate it all up we would be too full to drink. The show was awesome was regardless, and was the only time I ever saw the original lineup. The new Son Volt is not the same as the old Son Volt. The old Son Volt broke up quite a while ago, and Jay embarked on a solo career and the Boquist Brothers played with all kinds of people. When it was announced that SV was reuniting, there was great excitement amongst fans. But it’s not the original lineup. It’s Jay and 3 new guys. I was still excited. The chance to hear the old songs again live was too much to pass up. When Jay announced that they were going to tour, I got tix to one of their first, if not their first, US gigs—playing a radio conference in Philly along with My Morning Jacket and Bob Mould in June. I left with mixed feelings about that performance. I think they only played 1 song, and I wasn’t sure what I thought of the new songs. So, I was nervous about seeing them.
On Friday night in Austin it was hot. But we trudged out there and were treated to a mighty fine show. Jay and the band sounded great. Jay, who has never been known as being very talkative, actually said more than 25 words that night. He’ll never be a master showman onstage, but maybe he’s working on it. Jay has always been about the music. And it’s the music that drew me out there. I was a little discouraged and worried during the first hour or so. The first hour was comprised of almost new songs. The new ones sounded good, but I realized as I was standing there, that as much as ever, I was there searching for a feeling. I wanted the feeling again that I had when I first heard the old songs. I wanted to be reminded of that. I didn’t know if I could or not, but I the new ones were totally doin it for me. Then the second hour came, and it was almost all old stuff. And it was excellent. There was a triple shot that was “Tear Stained Eye”, “Windfall”, and then “Drown”. Holy Crap. I don’t think a better triple shot exists. (FYI, one of my favorite triple shots on record has always been on Waylon’s box set: Rainy Woman, Amanda, and Are you sure Hank Done it This Way). For the encore they pulled out a blistering version of the old Uncle Tupelo song “Chickamungua”, which was totally unexpected and really sounded great.
A couple thoughts about the show: I missed the steel guitar which used to be with them in the old band. There’s no steel guitar now, and I miss that twang. The new SV is a little more rockin and a little less country. I think I like the country a little better, but maybe that’s just me. The band sounded a lot tighter than when I saw them in June. They’re a good, rockin band. All in all it was a fine night of music. I didn’t ever quite recapture the old feelings, but I came close. During Windfall and Tear Stained Eye, and even during a couple others, I found myself totally caught up in the song, drifting away, being taken to some place else. For awhile I forgot about the heat, and the horde of people, and the drunk guy in front of me that kept invading my limited personal space as he danced wildly and threw buckets of sweat off of his long hair as I tried desperately to avoid him. Yes, for a while, I was almost back at Madison Manor, hanging with Brad, and Jon, and G, and Sid and Adrock. That’s the power of music I guess. That’s why I like it. It woulda been cool to see the show with all or some of those guys. Brad actually lives in Austin now, but I haven’t seen him yet. Hopefully soon. I did get to see Son Volt though. And they were good.
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