Son Volt Digs Boots Into Roots of Post-Punk Country

Son Volt, one of the landmark bands of the “alternative country” movement, showed off its unique take on post-punk country Tuesday at the El Rey Theatre, delivering a low-key, no-attitude set that reveled in an impressively taut rootsiness.

Rumpled lead singer and guitarist Jay Farrar delved right into the songs from the band’s second record, “Straightaways.” Equal parts twang and downbeat rock, they touch on a vein mined by Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers and Neil Young in the ‘70s. While Son Volt’s brother band Wilco claims the same influences, that group--headed by Farrar’s old Uncle Tupelo bandmate Jeff Tweedy--has taken on a more ornery rock style, while Farrar seems to be digging his heels into his roots.

At the El Rey, the resulting sounds were both familiar and new, a blend of bluegrass banjo and countrified lap-steel guitar coupled with Farrar’s introspective songs and idiosyncratic, closed-mouthed drawl. Farrar lets his songs speak for themselves, and while the lack of acrobatics was refreshing, it also left things bland at times. The monochromatic mood was lifted occasionally with songs such as “Caryatid Easy,” a terrific rock tune about luck, fate and remembering.

Despite the lags in momentum, Son Volt’s casual, laid-back show celebrated country music’s past while managing to shuck the sepia tone and take on a contemporary vibrancy.