Personnel: Shannon McNally (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Eric Heywood (pedal steel guitar); Chris Deusinger (saxophone); Keith Moyer (trumpet).

A dozen years down the line from the great alt-country schism that found Uncle Tupelo splintering into Jay Farrar's Son Volt and Jeff Tweedy's Wilco, the former gives the notoriously boundary-pushing Wilco a run for its money. While Son Volt was initially the rootsier band, the evolution that led to THE SEARCH finds the group at its most expansive. After personnel shakeups and solo projects, Farrar is the only remaining original member, and he takes advantage of the tabula rasa moment to reinvent the Son Volt sound. The twangy rock of yore is laced here with a bevy of unexpected sonic flavors: a soul horn section, atmospheric keyboards, psychedelic guitar effects, and more. Framing Farrar's ever-impressionistic lyrics, it all adds up to a bold new direction for a band that's traveled a long, rough road.