Title: Windfall

Artist: Son Volt

Album: Trace

Year Released: 1995

What It Is: Remember Uncle Tupelo? Remember when they broke up and Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy formed their own bands, each selecting a few of the Tupelo extended family to play with them? Well, this was the ‘first shot’ by Farrar, the lead off track from the brilliant Trace where folks, like me, thought Farrar was the star incumbent, whilst Wilco (Tweedy’s band, of course) was a pleasant diversion. Wow, how things change. Anyway, this is a fantastic song and is actually one of my wife’s faves!

Riffage / Hookage: No riffage in this plaintive ballad, but the chorus hook is pretty darn irresistible.

Cowbell?: Cowbell would ruin the vibe.

Words Of Wisdom: Switching it over to AM
Searching for a truer sound
Can’t recall the call letters
Steel guitar and settle down
Catching an all-night station
Somewhere in Louisiana
It sounds like 1963
But for now it sounds like heaven

Mixology Report: It’s a great tune for a mix. I used to put this on tapes and then CDs for my wife quite a bit! Back before the kidlets and the Sesame Street CDs, of course.

Top Five Genius Results: Damn Shame – Jay Farrar
16 Days – Whiskeytown
No Depression – Uncle Tupelo
Box Full Of Letters – Wilco
Waiting For The Sun – Jayhwaks

No surprises there.

For The Good Of The Order: Farrar has split and reformed Son Volt, and while his records have their moments, they tend to wallow in melancholy, and his voice gets weary after a while. He needed someone like Tweedy to take the edge off once in a while, whilst Tweedy has enough tricks in his sleeve to be self sufficient.

Here’s the reformed Son Volt at Bonnarroo in 2006.