Gob Iron

Gob Iron is a collaboration between two of the more forward-thinking figures in the alt-country movement, <a href="spotify:artist:2Plkkomsc4DKawkCioLKjc">Uncle Tupelo</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7AhDVqsNA5q46WKsRPXvoe">Son Volt</a> founder <a href="spotify:artist:4tPRMBm25eaPJaceUBPqTK">Jay Farrar</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Anders Parker</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:4zX1MXvdipg82DqjdSsdOm">Varnaline</a>. With a similar interest in atmospheric guitar-based music and songs that embraces the lesson of folk and country while staking out new sonic territory at the same time, <a href="spotify:artist:4tPRMBm25eaPJaceUBPqTK">Farrar</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a> would seem to be kindred spirits, and the two men's creative paths first crossed when <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a> opened an acoustic tour for <a href="spotify:artist:4tPRMBm25eaPJaceUBPqTK">Farrar</a> in 2001. The two musicians stayed in touch, and <a href="spotify:artist:4tPRMBm25eaPJaceUBPqTK">Farrar</a> lent his guitar work to <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a>'s 2004 solo album Tell It to the Dust, as well as <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a>'s 2005 EP The Wounded Astronaut. In the fall of 2004, <a href="spotify:artist:4tPRMBm25eaPJaceUBPqTK">Farrar</a> approached <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a> about contributing to the first album from his new edition of <a href="spotify:artist:7AhDVqsNA5q46WKsRPXvoe">Son Volt</a>, Okemah and the Melody of Riot; while <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a> ultimately didn't appear on the album, during pre-production the two recorded a handful of idiosyncratic interpretations of traditional folk tunes, with the two musicians often reworking the lyrics or melodies to reflect their own musical vision, and each tackling a number of different instruments in the studio. In 2006, <a href="spotify:artist:4tPRMBm25eaPJaceUBPqTK">Farrar</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a> returned to their folk song project, which they dubbed Gob Iron, after a British slang name for a harmonica. The debut Gob Iron album, Death Songs for the Living, was drawn primarily from the material <a href="spotify:artist:4tPRMBm25eaPJaceUBPqTK">Farrar</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7sIyg1q55DaveociKDvDCU">Parker</a> recorded in 2004; it was released on Halloween 2006, with the duo setting out on a tour to support the record. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi