American Central Dust

The Rounder debut of Jay Farrar's long-running project contains some of the sleepiest protest music ever made.

Over Jay Farrar’s past few albums—with Son Volt and on his own—the country-rock singer-songwriter has struggled to fit his drawling monotone into contexts where it won’t sound so limiting. He’s tried matching his voice to an equally stark sound, and hiding behind more elaborate arrangements. Now, with Son Volt’s Americ…

Jay Farrar resurrected Son Volt in 2005 after his solo career seemingly ran out of gas, and the two albums that followed -- Okemah and the Melody of Riot and The Search -- were the best and most compelling music he'd made since Son Volt's masterful debut Trace in 1995.

It’s the tracks that play to Son Volt’s strengths that draw the album’s dour shortcomings into sharp relief.