Son Volt

If you were to name the top five alt-country albums of the 1990s, Son Volt’s debut album Trace would probably make the list. I’m also willing to bet that if you were to introduce someone to the band, you wouldn’t go through the trouble of burning them a mixed CD, you would rather just hand them a copy of their first album and sit back and relax. It’s a rare album that flows effortlessly from song to song, as timeless a record as they come.

That being said, if you absolutely had to mix Trace with Son Volt’s other two studio albums, Straightaways and Wide Swing Tremolo, you probably couldn’t do a better job than Retrospective 1995-2000, which also features unreleased tunes, demos, and live acoustic tracks.

Retrospective reminds us once again of how powerful a songwriter Jay Farrar really is and how great a band could sound in the studio. Have one listen to “Route” and it won’t take long to remember the warmth and energy that Farrar, Dave Boquist, Jim Boquist, and Mike Heidorn could produce as one creative force. Keep listening and you’ll be treated to covers of Leadbelly’s “Aint No More Cane,” Big Star’s “Holocaust,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Open All Night,” all of which were previously unreleased.

My suggestion is to take a night and couple this collection with the Uncle Tupelo Anthology that was released in 2002. Perhaps you’ll find a better option—albeit a longer one—to give that new fan his or her first impression. Maybe not forever. Maybe just for now.