“Drown” by Son Volt

"Drown" was the second single from Trace, the Son Volt debut that Warner Bros. put out on September 19, 1995, and it's the sound of Jay Farrar coming out swinging. He had started the band the year before, once the influential alt-country outfit Uncle Tupelo fell apart, and he wrote this one alone, words and music, with Brian Paulson producing alongside the band.

People were keeping score. Uncle Tupelo had left two offshoots behind, and before Trace arrived there was open debate over whether Son Volt or Wilco would make the better record. "Drown" gave Son Volt a genuine radio hit, reaching number 10 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and 25 on Modern Rock Tracks, the only time the band made either chart, and by 2009 Trace had outsold Wilco's A.M. two to one.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.