Okemah and the Melody of Riot is the fourth album by alt-country band Son Volt. It was released on October 5, 2005.
The album has a score of 72 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[1] Trouser Press gave the album a very favorable review and called it "A stunning return to form."[10] The A.V. Club gave it a favorable review and said of Jay Farrar, "Even when his overintellectualized lyrics smear into a palette of industrial gray, the guitars provide a strong human heartbeat."[11] NME gave it a score of seven out of ten and said that "Farrar has the passion to carry the songs beyond any hackneyed themes."[1] Other reviews are average or mixed: Mojo gave the album three stars out of five and said, "By focusing on the temporal, [Farrar] reduces himself to simple protest music rather than timeless folk."[1] The New York Times gave it an average review and said, "The band's underlying, stubborn seriousness, and nearly Amish unwillingness to change, creates its appeal."[12] Blender, however, gave it two stars out of five and said that Farrar had "never tried so actively to fuse prescriptive politics into [the] mix, and the move feels suspect."[1]
All songs written by Jay Farrar.
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