Son Volt "Afterglow 61"

There are two camps of thought, on the voice of Jay Farrar.

There is one camp, that notes that Farrar's voice is huge. It fills his songs. It's beautiful. The tone of his voice is really a gorgeous, remarkable thing. It manages to both be crystal clear, and have this wonderful rounded quality at the same time.

Then is the other camp . . . which has a problem with his voice.

In one of the most memorable lines of a record review I've ever read, the critic complained that it was really hard to tell, from one song to another, if Farrar was happy, sad, angry or something else. Trying to discern what he was emoting about from one song to the next, was "like trying to tell squirrels apart."

I have to say, I'm setting up a tent in both camps on this one.