Wide Swing Tremolo

Wide Swing Tremolo
Studio album by Son Volt
Released	October 6, 1998
Recorded	Jajouka Studio
Genre	Alternative country
Length	45:34
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Son Volt
Son Volt chronology
Straightaways (1997) Wide Swing Tremolo (1998) Okemah and the Melody of Riot (2005)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[5]
Pitchfork Media	7.3/10[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Wall of Sound	82/100[9]

Wide Swing Tremolo is the third studio album by alternative country band Son Volt.[10][11] It was released in 1998 on Warner Bros. Records.[2][12]

The album peaked at No. 93 on the Billboard 200.[13]

Production

The album was recorded in Millstadt, Illinois, at the band's rehearsal space.[14] It was produced by the band and engineered by David Barbe.[15]

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly wrote that "many of the songs ... return to the power and purity of the band’s brilliant 1995 debut, Trace.[3] Trouser Press called the album "genuinely mediocre," writing that "the flourishes that had initially made Son Volt uncanny had transgressed into stale formula."[16] The Tucson Weekly wrote that "the songs retain Farrar's downcast approach, but they're extremely well-written this time around; and the band seems to have been reinvigorated, putting a little more into their performances than the cultivated ennui we've become accustomed to."[17]

Track listing

All songs written by Jay Farrar.

1. "Straightface" - 3:02
2. "Driving the View" - 2:57
3. "Jodel" - 0:41
4. "Medicine Hat" - 4:12
5. "Strands" - 5:06
6. "Flow" - 2:18
7. "Dead Man's Clothes" - 2:46
8. "Right on Through" - 3:08
9. "Chanty" - 1:27
10. "Carry You Down" - 3:28
11. "Question" - 4:00
12. "Streets That Time Walks" - 5:24
13. "Hanging Blue Side" - 3:41
14. "Blind Hope" - 3:17

Personnel

• Jay Farrar - guitars, lead vocals, Chamberlin organ, acoustic and electric pianos, dulcimer, harmonica
• Dave Boquist - guitars, lap steel guitar, fiddle, viola
• Jim Boquist - bass, backing vocals, slide guitar (4), piano (7)
• Mike Heidorn - drums, percussion
• Eric Heywood - pedal steel guitar (13, 14)
• Dave Barbe - Kenyan rattle (13)

References

1. "Wide Swing Tremolo - Son Volt | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
2. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 600.
3. "Wide Swing Tremolo". EW.com.
4. "Album Review / Pop". Los Angeles Times. October 10, 1998.
5. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1049.
6. "Son Volt: Wide Swing Tremolo: Pitchfork Record Review". April 27, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-04-27.
7. "Wide Swing Tremolo : Son Volt : Review : Rolling Stone". February 24, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-02-24.
8. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 759.
9. Durchholz, Daniel. "Wall of Sound Review: Wide Swing Tremolo". Wall of Sound. Archived from the original on 2001-04-15. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
10. "Son Volt | Biography & History". AllMusic.
11. "Son Volt Turn It Up With Tremolo". MTV News.^[dead link‍]
12. "Distant Rumblings". CMJ New Music Monthly. CMJ Network, Inc. November 11, 1998 – via Google Books.
13. "Son Volt". Billboard.
14. Himes, Geoffrey (September 25, 1998). "SON VOLT'S RURAL ROCK" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
15. Harris, Michael C. (October 1, 1998). "Americana, No Depression, Whatever". Miami New Times.
16. "Son Volt". Trouser Press. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
17. "Tucson Weekly: Soundbites (October 22 - October 28, 1998)". www.tucsonweekly.com.