Dioxin Disaster Spawned Song For Son Volt

The widely acclaimed debut album from country-rock quartet Son Volt has the surreal feel of midnight drives along rural highways. And one of the disc’s most affecting tunes, “Ten Second News,” was sparked by the remains of a 1983 environmental disaster.

“There was this town called Times Beach in Missouri where the streets were poisoned by dioxin-tainted oil, and the river flooded and they had to evacuate the place - 800 families,” said Son Volt singer-songwriter Jay Farrar. “You see it as you drive by on Interstate 44.”

Farrar did a lot of driving as he wrote the songs that make up “Trace,” the band’s just-released album. Because he was based in New Orleans and the other band members were living in Minneapolis and St. Louis, Farrar would drive up and down the country, listening to faraway late-night radio stations and watching truck stops and neon signs disappear in the rear-view mirror.

This lost highway atmosphere prevails on “Trace,” which reminds some listeners of the work of Gram Parsons.

Using slide guitar, lap steel, fiddle, and acoustic and electric guitars, Son Volt has fashioned an often sad and lonely slice of Americana that stands with similarly respected work by the Jayhawks, Joe Henry and the Bottle Rockets.