How much of American Central Dust is inspired by recent, um, developments in American life?
You know, the songs were written in the summer of ’08 and the prevailing mood of the country was that we needed change. I supposed there’s something of that in it. A song like “Down to the Wire” has more of looking at things through a historical lens. If there’s hope in that at all, it’s mixed with some degree of country-boy fatalism. (laughs) Maybe that fatalism comes naturally to anyone who knows what’s going on, but I felt overall this was an optimistic record. Tell us about the current lineup of Son Volt. Mark Spencer on steel guitar and keyboards and Chris Masterson on electric and lap steel. I think the coalescence and chemistry after we’d done eight months of shows before we recorded the record is in the end result. There’s more interplay between Chris and Mark and more of soloist’s sensibility. A song like “Down to the Wire” recalls for me the Band’s “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” somewhat and not in just instrumental virtuosity. Both are rooted in history and, as a protest s
