Jay Farrar and Son Volt:

An Interview with the Enigmatic Leader from One of America's Dynamic Cutting Edge Bands

 

By Scott Baker

 

 It doesn't need to be said that Jay Farrar is a brilliant musician.

From the underground legend of Uncle Tupelo to ground breaking Son Volt and not to mention his successful solo career over the course of the past five years, Farrar hasn't shied away from giving listeners everything and more.
 

Then there is the NEW Son Volt - a new line-up. A new attack to the musical senses. A classic blend of roots and rock that Farrar has whipped up time after time throughout his career and this time with real raw rocking results.
 

 Okemah And The Melody Of Riot was released July 12 and is another incredible set of tunes from Farrar's cannon. The CD is a Dual Disc, which is the newest sensation for musicphiles. It's been around for about a year and in 2005 it has sprouted. There is a DVD side, which features in this situation a short movie/interview and the complete CD in a 5.1 mix. Then the flip side of the disc is the regular CD portion for regular playability.

For Farrar, he's willing to put everything he has into his music and is always looking to give the fans as much as possible.
 

"It just feels good to be in a band context again," said Farrar during a phone interview last week.  "I sort of missed the whole group dynamic. Basically I also missed playing electric, which is something that I've been away from. Maybe there's an element of being excited about getting back to all of that."
 

Having been succinct and tepid for many years regarding interviews, Farrar is reaching out this year to provide plenty of verbal banter to the media regarding all aspects of his career. He has finally come clean on his history with Uncle Tupelo and his rash relationship with Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) in a recent Relix Magazine interview, putting an end to questions in that light. For the most part though, he has been enjoying the bragging rights to one of the best bands in the land and isn't afraid to discuss a little about the new Son Volt line-up.
 

"Going into the recording itself, we didn't know what to expect," shared the singer/songwriter.  "But sometimes being sort of put into the situation like we were where we'd never played any shows or done any recording together as a whole, I think it sort of forced us to dig deep and make it happen. It sort of coalesced around that common groove."
 

Farrar has recently played with new drummer Dave Bryson in his solo band over the past few years and that provided the stepping-stone to the new idealism behind the band.
 

"We had that experience to draw on," said Farrar. "And Andrew Duplantis, the bass player, is someone I've known for about ten years. On the record, (guitarist) Brad Rice (ex-Ryan Adams) is someone that I met through a mutual friend. We seem to hit it off pretty good."
 

With Rice filling the standard tuning groove on the guitar, Farrar brushed the sound canvas with his usual alternate tunings on the electric and they blend incredibly well.
 

"It just sort of happened that way I guess," quipped the vocalist.  "I was kind of using alternate tunings and whatever guitars that seem to have a wide neck that could accommodate heavy gauge strings. So that meant using this old Epiphone and an old Gretsch that fit that bill. They had these low output pickups on them, so they wound up being a little bit low-fi sounding on my end, and Brad has kind of had a boutique guitar he picked up in Germany or somewhere."
 

"He did a tour with the Stones I think and Ronnie Wood plays a Duesenberg - something like that. Generally I had the alternate tuning and he would play in standard. I still like to write in alternate tunings. It kind of seems to free up the process of taking in different directions (more) then you would expect."
 

"And I like to still record that way as well, but live its kind of a logistical nightmare to use a lot of alternate tunings, so I kind of just use a couple."

 

Farrar enjoyed the process of capturing the music as it happened considering there was no tour or pre-conceived outlook for the process with the new line-up.
 

"Over the years I think I've tried playing songs live for a while and then doing them in the studio. I think I sort of feel like maybe it's best to do the songs sort of in the studio without a long gestation period, or without a period of trying them out. Sometimes they have a tendency to get a little tired if you play them on the road too much, so I kind of like doing songs when they're still fresh and there's a certain point where everyone ceases to learn the songs and they start to actually play. If you could record that moment, that's the best moment when there's a certain energy to it all."
 

With Son Volt clearly in his bloodstream again, Farrar has opted to focus on the tour rather than continue writing, although he expects it all may change at some point.
"I had been doing a bit of writing before the record came out," stated Farrar.  "There's always kind of a lull down period. I was doing some writing then. But now I'm just focused on the tour and the touring ahead. I don't know. It remains to be seen, but maybe sometime next year I'll be thinking more seriously about the next recording. This time around, we're just focused on the songs we're playing."
 

His rehearsal space doubles as a recording studio where he has recorded solo and Son Volt with his long time producer John Agnello, a sound that is unmatched in the industry.

"John's a pro. He's sort of worked his way up the ranks, you know, the whole hieratical system of studios. He's picked up a lot of experience along the way and he knows what he wants to get and how to do it. John's just a great guy. There's the fact that we share an interest in analog recording and John in particular knows Class A - he's a Class A fanatic of recording gear."
 

"When it comes to adding stuff (overdubbing) I'm just a little bit reticent about adding too much on there, where as with Sebastopol  (his first solo album in 2001) it was more kind of an acceptance of let's try putting a lot of stuff on there and let's see how it flies. A lot of the other records its more of the approach of trying to do things as live with a group in the studio as you can (like Okemah)."
 

Having started their national tour in September, Farrar is happy to be concentrating on the live situation.
 

"It's going good. It's always the kind of thing where you feel like you've sort of discovered a groove along the way. That's what touring is all about, it seems like."
 

"We have done a couple short tours and some shows in the last six months, but this is the first extended touring, so it's nice to get into it and work out some new songs. Some songs kind of evolve a little bit along the way. Some of the stuff on the DVD is actually the first show. It was a benefit show in St. Louis."
 

 For a family man and artist as personable as Farrar, from his writing and releases, to the way he holds himself in the press, the coming year will be extremely busy and full of new frontiers for the musician to eclipse.
 

"I hope to do more solo recordings, trying to fit them in somewhere. But I think the focus right now is to tour behind this record and hopefully record another Son Volt record. We actually have stuff planned next year in January and February and I think we'll probably be busy pretty much most of next year."