After a seven-year hiatus, during which he did anything but take time off, Jay Farrar has reformed Son Volt, the band he started in 1994 when his seminal alt-country band, Uncle Tupelo, disbanded. This year is huge for Son Volt: An anthology of the band's first three albums hit the shelves in May; a DVD of the group shot live in 1996 from Austin City Limits is out; and the release of a brand-new album - Okemah and the Melody of Riot - is being followed by a fall tour. We met up with Farrar at his St. Louis studio to talk music, the band, the road, and cheese sandwiches in Woody Guthrie's hometown. - James Mayfield

It's been seven years since the last Son Volt album, Wide Swing Tremolo. Why the break between albums, and why get the band back together now? There were kind of dual reasons for taking the hiatus. I had children during that period, and I wanted to spend more time with them. But also, I was looking for a different challenge, and that meant doing solo recordings and also performing solo acoustic. That was something I felt I had to experience. I pretty much started out just playing in a band context. I feel I've learned a lot just by getting up on stage with an acoustic guitar - it's informative; nothing to hide behind. [Laughs]

Listening to the new album, you kind of go through music historically, talking about Highway 61, gramophones, and your "6 String Belief." I guess the point of origination for "6 String Belief" was the age-old argument: Is rock and roll dead? At that time, I was just thinking about how there's been kind of a movement back toward a more fundamental rock-and-roll attitude and sound - bands like the White Stripes. "Gramophone," even though I don't technically own a gramophone, I do have an old 78 player, which I use a lot listening to old 78s. And there's just an elusive quality that isn't there with the digital stuff. With "Afterglow 61," I spent a lot of time during the recording of the first Son Volt record, when I was living in New Orleans and driving up to Minneapolis to rehearse. It was almost a 24-hour drive, and occasionally I would get off on Highway 61 and drive through Mississippi and Louisiana. There's a lot of character to driving the old road.