Woodpile: Son Volt’s “Wide Swing Tremolo”

More Woodpile songs here, as I continue to work out the new(ish) Mac/ interface/ software and re-learn those neglected instruments.

By the time of Son Volt’s 1998 “Wide Swing Tremolo” release, the band was heading into the wilderness.  By all accounts they “won” the first round of LP releases after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo.  But the attention and, yeah, surprising popularity dissipated quickly (with Wilco seeing the inverse, exponentially; a story for another time). The second Son Volt album, the as-good “Straightaways”, garnered mostly shrugs and the third LP even less, though in this case the response was pretty much deserved.  “Wide Swing Tremolo” at minimum just felt off somehow, and it honestly was not so good.  It did turn out to be the end of that first, best lineup featuring the stop-start drumming of Mike Heidorn, the bass and letter perfect harmonies of Jim Boquist and the crunchy guitar and other instrumental textures from his brother Dave.  But “Wide Swing Tremolo” contained a handful of full-on classics that I’ve gone back to again and again for two decades, as much or more so than the rest of the catalog. Figured I take a stab at a few....

JK

Medicine Hat:
https://app.box.com/s/9x77ghucquaywvofa0l7820nn6sj1miy

Hanging Blue Side:
https://app.box.com/s/l772jatpmr2vsqx2lews0682lz8j560c

Driving the View:
https://app.box.com/s/5liheyvqclf85euoi3isu66gccxdfu7u

Woodpile: The Byrds’ country rock

Ah, the Byrds: Criminally underrated and one of my all-time faves.  Perhaps unusually, I dunno, my gateway was the country era rather than the chart-topping chiming-Rickenbacker jangle-pop era.  I still recall picking up that “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” CD from Record & Tape Traders in Towson, MD, taking it back to my summer squat at the DU house and, upon firing it up, quickly shutting the door and thinking, “Uh... This is WAY more country than I was picturing, but.. still... I think this may totally be my thing....”.  Sent me down a Gram Parsons rabbit hole and then a Clarence White one, and there I remain to this day.

Anyway, back here in modern times, I fairly recently was looking to upgrade the recording hardware and software at home, scored a MacBook refurb, began goofing around with GarageBand and thought I’d do another set of “Woodpile” songs to help me work things out.  Figured it’d also be a good opportunity to goof around on the acoustic instruments again and re-learn some things after years I the overwork wilderness.  So...

“You Ain’t Going Nowhere” kicked off the Byrds’ Gram Parsons-initiated country rock era, leading off that legendary “Sweethearts of the Rodeo” from 1968.  Yet another Bob Dylan cover of course.

“Tulsa County” is another cover, non-Dylan, off 1969’s “Ballad of Easy Rider “.  Parson’s exceedingly short stay was done by then and the band was already deep into the Clarence White era.  Best thing yet to come out of Lewiston, ME.  King of the Telecaster and father of the pedal-steel-mimicking B-bender apparatus.  Killed by a drunk driver in LA, 1973 while loading out his gear from a bluegrass gig with his brother.  Just goddamn.

Also peak Clarence, and sung by him on the record, “Truck Stop Girl” is a Little Feat cover from 1970’s “Untitled”.

JK

You Ain’t Going Nowhere
https://app.box.com/s/u6so4to3p2i6cgp75d3tsf1v95eqdzsk

Tulsa County
https://app.box.com/s/uu0vh0s9er00d95msq5axxkbclpq5ipx

Truck Stop Girl
https://app.box.com/s/57o2tt3kbm5f5rjcht15tnms0944h0fs