Son Volt's previous two albums 2005's Okemah and the Melody of Riot and 2007's Trace were a hard rocking album and an experimental album respectively. Neither did much in the way of expanding Son Volt's audience bigger. American Central Dust is a return to their more rustic country/folk sound that leader Jay Farrar has been playing since the days of Uncle Tupelo.
The music is mostly acoustic with Farrar's vocals being the emphasis, this is both good and bad. Jay's voice sounds really good some of his lyrics are just plain awkward. There is more than one occasion where the words just don't fit the vocal line, he's trying to cram too many words into not enough space. This is a relatively minor complaint for me though as it only happens 3 or 4 times in the whole album and the rest is very good, laid back stuff.
My favorite songs as of this moment are "Dynamite," "Cocaine and Ashes" "When the Wheels Don't Move" and the closer "Jukebox of Steel" the only song that may qualify as rock.
American Central Dust is not going to be for anyone who can't stand country music but it's also not going win anyone over who is tied to what the radio passes for country these days. It's very enjoyable for fans of previous Son Volt albums or anyone interested in seeing what "Alt country" (whatever the hell that is/was) has come to.
Rating 3.5/5
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