Son Volt Tackle Cocaine, Maritime Tragedies, Keith Richards And More On 'American Central Dust'

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - Son Volt band leader, songwriter and lyricist Jay Farrar has never been one to shy away from tackling complex topics in his songs, the material on Son Volt's new album 'American Central Dust,' out July 7 on Rounder Records may be some of his strongest yet. Here are three of our favorites:

'Cocaine And Ashes'
The gorgeous, stately, piano led song is Farrar's empathetic tribute to Keith Richards, which references Richards' controversial story about snorting his fathers ashes mixed with cocaine (which he later said was a joke). Opening with the unforgettable couplet 'I've had strychnine, I thought I was dead, I snorted my father and I'm still alive,'

'I was actually kind of moved by Keith's idiosyncratic demonstration of his love for his deceased father,' says Farrar. 'That's Keith's way of doing things; doing drugs is what he knows. Ultimately, it's supposed to be an empathetic song, and I hope it comes across that way.'
Listen to 'Cocaine And Ashes':
https://easylink.playstream.com/rounder/Cocaineandashes.wax

'Sultana'
Farrar also provides a history lesson on the new album, describing the events of the 'the worst American disaster of the maritime' on the dirge-like 'Sultana.' On April 27, 1865, the steamboat Sultana was destroyed in a an explosion on the Mississippi River, an estimated 1,800 of the 2,400 passengers were killed when one of the ship's four boilers exploded and the ship sank not far from Memphis, Tennessee. As Farrar says in the song, 'the Titanic of the Mississippi was the Sultana.'
Listen to 'Sultana':
https://easylink.playstream.com/rounder/Sultana.wax

'When The Wheels Don't Move'
A gifted narrator, Farrar lyrical ruminations have always had a strong resonance with the lives of everyday Americans, and 'When the Wheels Don't Move' marks a new evocative high point. On the track Farrar asks, 'Who makes the decision/To feed the tanks and not the mouths/When the wheels don't move?'

'That one was inspired by that period last year when gas prices skyrocketed,' Farrar explains. 'I started thinking of it in terms of bands just starting out-how they could even afford to tour anymore.
They're maybe making $100 a gig, and it costs more than that to get from one town to the next.'
Listen to 'When The Wheels Don't Move':
https://easylink.playstream.com/rounder/whenthewheels.wax