On Son Volt’s sixth studio album Honky Tonk, Jay Farrar focuses on exploring, distilling and re-imagining the classic honky tonk sound of the 1950’s Bakersfield, California which was a landing spot for Dust Bowl era migrants primarily from the midwest. The collection of music on this album is full of slow and mid-tempo waltzes, and led by pedal steel guitars and twin fiddles, along with Farrar’s world weary laid-back vocals. Standouts among the eleven tracks such as opener “Hearts and Minds”, “Bakersfield”, “Angel of the Blues”, and closer “Shine On” are steeped in sounds of the past while speaking to contemporary concerns. Honky Tonk harkens back to early Son Volt in its exploration of Americana and its sub-genres in contrast to the fuller experimentation found more recent work. All in all, Honky Tonk is an excellent album that fans and critics will thoroughly enjoy. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Blue Mountain, Drive-by Truckers, Gob Iron, Jason Isbell, Uncle Tupelo