Jay Farrar "Voodoo Candle"

I'm away on vacation this week so here's anotherWe Used To Play This post:

Jay Farrar has mostly used the Son Volt moniker, even though the band members has changed pretty frequently over the last 20-something years.

But occasionally, he puts something out under his own name.  This one, circa 2001, sounded great, and I liked playing it, but it didn't really last on the mvyradio playlist . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Son Volt "Hearts & Minds"

Sometime shortly after I have become Program Director at MVY, I was down at the Pub where I hung out.  One of my buddies was saying to a third guy:  "Did you hear that PJ got promoted at MVY?"

The third guy shrugged.  "MVY?  I stopped listening to them since they went country."

Went country?

The previous month, we'd done an On The Road trip to Merlefest, the premiere East Coast Americana music festival hosted by Doc Watson.

We gave it massive coverage on the air, playing cuts from bluegrass, country, roots and Americana artists not typically found in large supply on our station.

Was it wall-to-wall country?  No.  But here in the Northeast, a little country goes a long way.

It's always important to keep a good balance, and air only a moderate supply of songs that push away from the center-boundary of what is mvyradio.

If you look back at the old entry about how we choose songs for mvyradio, you'll see that I expressly mention that we're okay when we have a couple of Country-leaning songs.  Anything over that, and we risk sounding "too country."

So what do you do when there's a plethora of great, mvy-friendly country music out there?

We're suddenly deluged with great albums that can't really be ignored, by Son Volt, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, and Steve Earle.  Not to mention the banjo and dobro inflected likes of The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and Jerry Douglas.

I guess the answer is, you go with it. 

We can't not play the Steve Earle.  Or the Emmylou & Rodney.  It would be weird for MVY, long-time Earle and Harris supporters, to suddenly ignore a critically-praised major release of theirs.  And the curiosity factor of the Steve & Edie record alone is reason to play it---it's the kind of oddball release that listeners expect to have a place on our eclectic indie station.

I say this all the time to listeners who complain about hearing too much of one new song or another:  Songs come and songs go.  If you don't like this one, don't worry, it will run its course and fade. 

Three months from now, many of these songs will be gone from our "current" playlist, and the balance of the station will be restored, or will perhaps lean in another direction that we'll have to course-correct for.

In the meantime, we haven't "gone country."  We're just enjoying the twang.


Hear Son Volt on Youtube.


Hear Buddy & Jim on Youtube.


Hear Emmylou & Rodney on Youtube.


Hear Steve & Edie talk about their record on Youtube.


Hear Steve Earle on Youtube.

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.

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard “These Roads Don’t Move”

. . . and Son Volt “No Turning Back” and Death Cab For Cutie "Meet Me At The Equinox” . . .

There are many strange stories in the record promotion world, about artists competing against themselves. There is the famous story about John Fogerty being sued for plagiarizing a song, because it sounded too much like . . . John Fogerty.

And there can be strange conflicts for and between record labels, and the promotion folks who work to get radio stations to play the songs they’re promoting.

Johnatha Brooke and Davey Knowles recorded the duet “Taste Of Danger.” It appears on Jonatha’s album “The Works” and on “Coming Up For Air” by Davey’s band Back Door Slam. Representatives from each label were encouraging mvyradio to play “their” version of the song (it’s the same recording on both CDs).

Earlier this year, Pete Yorn recorded an album for his regular label, Epic, but also recorded a quickie album with Scarlett Johanssen for Rhino Records, who chose to put that CD out at the same time as the Epic Record. So promo folks were calling, asking if we were going to play the “right” Pete Yorn record.

And we’re in a similar situation right now. Son Volt has a new single out called “No Turning Back.” And Death Cab For Cutie has a song on the “New Moon” movie Soundtrack. And the lead singers of each band have collaborated on a new project called “On Fast Move Or I’m Gone.”

Is there any reason NOT to play two new songs by the same artist? No. We do it regularly. For instance, we’re playing several new tracks off Carly Simon’s latest release. But with a finite number of spaces on our playlist, we tend to do one new song at a time, even if it rankles the Record Company Promotion people.

So we went for the strongest, most interesting song. “These Roads Don’t Move” by Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard has found its way into rotation on mvyradio.

What about the other two. Good song, both. But are they essential?

Hear samples of each:


Get a free MP3 of “These Roads Don’t Move”

Buy the Farrar/Gibbard album “One Fast Move Or I'm Gone Music From Kerouac's Big Sur” which includes a DVD of the Jack Kerouac documentary that spurred the musical collaboration, the Son Volt CD “American Central Dust” and the “New Moon” movie soundtrack featuring the DCFC song.

See the Farrar and Gibbard perform "These Roads Don't Move" live, see the movie trailer for "One Fast Move Or I'm Gone," see Son Volt perform "No Turning Back" Live and see the official music video for "Meet Me On The Equinox."

See this previous post, for details on how a song gets into rotation on mvyradio, then let me know what you think.