Jay Farrar

Perhaps better known lately as the lead vocalist for twangy folks Son Volt, Jay Farrar pretty much helped kick-start the whole "alternative country" movement with his prior band Uncle Tupelo. Although co-founder of Uncle Tupelo Jeff Tweedy has gotten a bit more notice with his current band Wilco, I've always felt that Farrar's songwriting was a lot more captivating and more stirring emotionally. Take this excerpt from his song 'Tear Stained Eye':

"Walkin' down main street, gettin' to know the concrete, lookin' for a purpose from a neon sign. I would meet you anywhere western sun meets the air, I'll hit the road, never lookin' behind. Can you deny there's nothin' greater, nothin' more than the travellin' hands of time? St. Genevieve can hold back the water - but saints don't bother with a tear stained eye."

When paired with his warm dry breeze of a voice, that song always gets me. Anyhow, Son Volt have gone on a bit of a hiatus while Farrar put together his forthcoming solo album, which I hear is mostly acoustic (yay!). For nearly 10 years, I managed never to be in the same city as Uncle Tupelo or Son Volt when they were touring... finally I had a chance to see him on his solo tour - 5 encores later, it was well worth the wait..

Links of note:

Jay Farrar homepage: http://www.jayfarrar.net.

If you'd like, you can email me here: richard@hearingmusic.com.

Oh, and all content on these pages is copyright Richard Lewis.