serves as a sort of inspirational character or a point of reference when thinking about topical issues. He had a willingness to take social injustice head-on and write about it.

[Earlier Son Volt releases possessed a more composed, controlled atmosphere, which showed off Farrar's songwriting chops well, but the new one has a more pervasive sense of urgency, not just lyrically but also musically. There's an immediacy that's palpable.] We were kind of a new configuration, so there's an edge there, a spontaneity that's basically good, ... Maybe we were aware that this was something special that never happened before?

I think I just sort of felt like with the original incarnation of Son Volt we'd hit a wall, ... I didn't want to necessarily be the person who had to crack the whip to try to push people in a certain direction that they didn't want to go.

After doing the solo records, I was playing a lot of acoustic shows and just began missing the band dynamic. So getting back to Son Volt was, for me, finishing unfinished business.

but at this point it seems kind of inevitable or unstoppable.

Having gone through a period of making solo records and performing with just one other guy, Mark Spencer, I really missed the idea of playing in a group dynamic. We're doing a set that is focused on the new album, but we'll be doing other Son Volt material as well -- and we could be going back to Uncle Tupelo, too.