Legendary Singer Songwriter to Play Maxwell's

Jay Farrar, songwriter and former member of Uncle Tupelo and leader of Son Volt, has a really good sense of humor.

Granted, he's rarely been photographed smiling. His songs are bleak. But, if you listen carefully to his asides, you'll see that Farrar knows how to deliver one liners.

In anticipation of his June 4 performance in Maxwell's, Patch talked to the legendary musician.

When asked if he ever heard from Neil Young, after recording a scorching cover of Young's, "Like A Hurricane."

Farrar: "Well, I did hear from his management people. They wanted to make sure we were paying Neil is royalties."

If you go to Maxwell's on Friday, you'll hear some world class songs, with Farrar accompanied by eloquent axeman, Mark Spencer. He'll be playing tunes that have a beautifully-distressed quality about them. Featuring narrators who are rather distressed themselves.

I ask Farrar, if he sees any similarity today, to those musically-forlorn 1980s, when he and his partner Jeff Tweedy toured as Uncle Tupelo.

"It's sort of spooky," he says. "But it's remarkably similar. Back then, there weren't too many organic rock bands and radio was terrible. Anything good pretty much was underground. It's not any different right now."

That's probably good reason to start searching for his stuff. You won't find Son Volt (arguably the great band of the 1990s) or Farrar solo, on your megawatt radio stations or Access Hollywoods, but your search will prove rewarding, nonetheless. 

In every phase of Farrar's long career, you can find tunes that are remarkably melodic, resplendent with echoes of country and folk, or thrillingly discordant, sometimes all in the same song. You will also find an artist who has been moving and searching for new sounds and stories.  

Take his fairly recent album with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie. It's a sweetly-sad, accessible affair entitled, "One False Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur." Farrar charted fresh territory, while referencing a writer who has had a profound impact on him.

"Ben and I have been fans of each other's work, but we never played together. It turns out the common denominator was this book by Jack Kerouac, 'Big Sur.' It's a really haunting work from near the end of his life, when Kerouac was sick with alcoholism and depression and feeling his work was under-appreciated," Farrar says. "These people were making a documentary about this phase in his life and they asked Ben and me if we could write some tunes for it. It ended up going so well, that we went on and wrote and recorded an album's worth of songs."

Currently, label-less, I wonder if Farrar has any desire to sign with a big—or small for that matter—label again. He's still undecided, he says, but relates the tale of trying to run a label of his own. For a while tried to run a label called Transmit Sound, with which he put out solo record "Terroir Blues."

"The problem was," Farrar says, "the business part was so time-consuming, it hardly left any time to make music."

Retirement plans are not in the offing. In addition to his solo gigs, Farrar and Son Volt have dates lined up at big venues in Europe this summer. Meanwhile, he's teaching himself how to play the pedal steel guitar, something he says he always wanted to learn. 

Toward the end of our talk, I mention that Farrar's beloved Faces, that great, knockabout band from England, have reformed to play dates this summer. Even if lead singer, Rod Stewart, and deceased bass player, Ronnie Lane, won't be playing with them. Instead, Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and soul singer Mick Hucknall will fulfill those roles.

You can almost hear Farrar savoring the possibilities here. A cheesy move pondered by a guy whose career has been decidedly uncheesy.

"Boy, The Faces without Rod Stewart?" Farrar responds. "You know, somehow that sounds like it just might be interesting."

That's the great thing about Jay Farrar. He might be joking. But, even when you think about what he says, it's nearly impossible to be sure.

Jay Farrar will be at Maxwell's on Friday June 4 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20. For more information call 201 653-1703.