Tweet

Album Details

• Artist: Gob Iron
• Album: Death Songs For The Living
• Label: Transmit
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2006-11-27

Here's an idea, why don't we take a couple of Americana's unsung heroes like Son Volt/Uncle Tupelo's Jay Farrar and Varnaline's Anders Parker and see what the two of them can come up with. Well, Gob Iron is just that, a supergroup, of sorts that leaves you missing your little country hometown. Seems that Anders opened on a Farrar solo tour a few years back and the two of them have kept in touch ever since. It seems strange for Farrar to take this direction now, just after he resurrected and breathed new life into Son Volt with Okemah. Despite that thought Gob Iron is a very solid album. It had to be with these two working on it together. It actually harkens back to the Uncle Tupelo days where Farrar had the more country leanings and Tweedy had the more pop side of things. With Parker taking the Tweedy role on Gob Iron this album is going to be a sleeper just waiting to be discovered. The album opens up with the dark "Death's Black Train" giving us a somber mood for the rest of the album. Anders backs up Jay vocally on this track very nicely. While most of these songs are new arrangements of older folk songs, there are also Instrumentals dispersed throughout the album. These instrumentals display some absolutely awesome guitar work, reminiscent of the brilliance of John Fahey. "Hard Times" is the first of the set that really sounds like a lost Son Volt track. A couple others on here too but some of the Anders sung tracks, like "Hills Of Mexico" really add a nice variety to Gob Iron. This is a great album for the traditionalists as well as anyone interested in Americana or alt country.

User Reviews and Comments

Log In or Register to Rate Albums