Jay Farrar avoids labels and encourages listeners to make their own interpretations
by John Sewell
Whenever any musician attains even a modicum of public recognition, their job description instantly changes. At first, the primary focus is writing and performing songs. Then, once the hydra-headed beast of notoriety bares its fangs, maintaining a public persona oftentimes becomes the most important job.
Interviewing musicians is a lot like interviewing politicians. No matter what you ask them—or most of them, anyway—they somehow manage to twist everything around so that they're telling about whatever's on their agenda.
Ask Johnny Rocker about his favorite ice cream flavor, and he'll somehow end up telling you about the direction of his new album.
In the interview setting, alternacountry figurehead Jay Farrar is quite a bit different from your average troubadour. Instead of rattling off inane platitudes about his music with little or no provocation, the musician is slow to respond. My phone conversation with him was rather unsettling, just because of the elongated spaces between question and answer. He was quite deliberate as he pondered the questions I asked.
Not to say that Farrar was difficult to deal with: In fact, he bent over backwards to show utmost courtesy. It's just a little disconcerting to converse with an icon and have your questions (at first) met with silence.
A reluctant leader, Farrar has been at the forefront of alternative country music since before the genre even had a title. As a founding member of the pivotal Uncle Tupelo and later Son Volt, Farrar helped fashion the template that umpteen bands have followed.
"The term alternative country has kind of taken on a life of its own," explains Farrar. "And I guess you could say I'm sort of an unwilling figurehead. I understand that there has to be a way to describe music, and that's fine. It just seems weird to me. That [alternative country] is just a difficult thing to sum up."
True to form, Farrar is not exactly following the template he created. His latest solo effort, Terroir Blues, released on his own Act/Resist label, is both traditional and experimental. Scattered among the expected country-rock and folk sounds are six snippets of instrumental psychedelia Farrar calls "Space Junk." To the modern listener, these pieces sound a lot like electronica; but Farrar says their inspiration comes from an older source.
"I've always been a big fan of The Beatles' Revolver album and that's where the idea for that came from. I'm really a product of the music of the '60s and '70s. I've always dabbled in tape loops, and I wanted to concentrate a bit more on that kind of sound for the new album. Hopefully, the juxtaposition will work within the concept of the entire album."
The title Terroir Blues is perhaps a bit deceiving. Though many have perceived it as a comment on the post-9/11 milieu, the term terroir is a French word associated with wine making.
"Some people have asked me if that was a reference to terrorism," says Farrar. "But the denotation of the word means belonging to the soil.
"I really don't worry too much about how people may interpret what I do," Farrar continues. "Of course, it depends on the song. But, in general, I think it's good for people to hear the music and interpret it in their own way. That's what music is all about."
Ever the diplomat, Farrar treads softly when speaking of his former bandmates from Uncle Tupelo. And, of course, I just had to ask him his thoughts about the recent Wilco documentary film, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.
"Actually, I haven't seen the movie," Farrar replies. "I don't see many movies at all, and I purposely don't seek out what Jeff (Tweedy, Farrar's foil in Uncle Tupelo) does because people are always asking me for my critique of it."
For his current tour, Farrar will be backed up by Canyon, a band that will also open the show. "They [Canyon] mix a lot of elements that are very appealing to me," says Farrar. "So, of course, I'm excited to be playing with them."
As a solo artist, Farrar has donned a new hat: that of a music executive. He opted to start the Act/Resist label out of frustration with the machinations of the music industry. And apparently, the new label is working out just fine.
"I decided to start the label based on my belief that I always have to have an outlet to create music," enthuses Farrar. "When you're on a label, you kind of go by their agenda. The dynamic of the label can end up keeping you from being able to release music when you want it to come out. And I prefer to control the agenda on my own."
September 4, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 36
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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