American Central Dust (2009)

Image credit: J.Wagner & S.Waugh

HIGH VOLTAGE (From left) Dave Bryson, Chris Masterson, Jay Farrar, Andrew Duplantis, and Mark Spencer

After two albums of musical expansion, Son Volt's retreat to their traditional country-folk motif winds up coming across as listless and a little bored. Jay Farrar's nasal drone often sounds stranded on stage all alone, which helps his frequently cumbersome lyrics (''More ways to buy trouble/Than a bail bondsman finds friends in jail'')...well, not at all. So while the songs that sizzle on American Central Dust — ''Down to the Wire,'' ''When the Wheels Don't Move'' — are of vintage stock, be prepared to sift through some monotonous meandering 
 to find them. B–

Download This: Listen to the song Down to the Wire on the band's MySpace

See all of this week's reviews