Hear Son Volt’s Ominous New Single “The 99”

There has long been a political element to Jay Farrar’s writing.

As a twentysomething in the seminal band Uncle Tupelo, Farrar and bandmate Jeff Tweedy documented the effects of post-industrialization and Reaganomics through the lens of their blue-collar upbringing in Belleville, Illinois.

Years later, with his band Son Volt, Farrar charted the blues of the George W. Bush years with Okemah and the Melody of Riot, an album loosely inspired by the spirit of Woody Guthrie.

Farrar is now is set to drop one of his mostly overtly political albums to date in late March. The album is called Union, and four of the tracks were recorded at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Below, you can get a taste of the new album with the song “The 99.”

Of the tune, Farrar says: “I was referencing the Dakota pipeline protests for the first part of the song and Ferguson for the second half and just thinking how something fundamentally has to change.”

Union will be released on Transmit Sound/Thirty Tigers.