Jay Stuart Farrar (born December 26, 1966) is an American songwriter and musician based in
St. Louis
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
. A member of two critically acclaimed music groups,
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend ...
and
Son Volt
Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar (vocals, guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass guitar), John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and ...
, he began his solo music career in 2001. Beyond his talent as a songwriter, he plays guitar, piano, harmonica, and is a vocalist.
Uncle Tupelo
Farrar formed
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend ...
with
Jeff Tweedy
Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, singer songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, began his music care ...
and
Mike Heidorn
Mike Heidorn (born 1967 in Belleville, Illinois), is a former drummer and founding member of alternative country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. Heidorn also played with the Uncle Tupelo precursors the Primitives (or ) and the one-off band Coffee ...
in 1987 after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primatives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville Records, before signing with
Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...
and expanding to being a five-piece. Shortly after the release of the band's major label debut album
''Anodyne'', Farrar announced his decision to leave the band owing to a soured relationship with his co-songwriter Tweedy. Uncle Tupelo is often mentioned as one of the originators of the
alt-country
Alternative country (commonly abbreviated to alt-country; also known as alternative country rock, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative) is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that diffe ...
genre of music or subgenre of country music which combines country, folk, and/or bluegrass with punk rock, alt-rock, indie rock, or other genres.
Son Volt
After the dissolution of Uncle Tupelo in 1994, Farrar formed the rock group
Son Volt
Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar (vocals, guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass guitar), John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and ...
, whose original lineup released three albums in the late 1990s, before undergoing a hiatus in 1999. In 1999, Farrar was invited to participate in the
tribute album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...
for
Moby Grape
Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lea ...
co-founder
Skip Spence
Alexander "Skip" Spence (born Alexander Lee Spence, Jr.; April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a Canadian-born American singer-songwriter and musician. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year, h ...
, who was terminally ill with cancer. The album, ''
More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album'' (
Birdman, 1999), was an album of
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of the songs on Spence's only solo album, ''
Oar'' (
Columbia, 1999). In 2005, the band re-formed with a different lineup and has released seven additional albums.
Other
In 1995, Farrar collaborated with Kelly Willis on the song "Rex's Blues", which appeared on
Red Hot + Bothered
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...
, an
AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
benefit album produced by the
Red Hot Organization
''Red Hot Organization'' (RHO) is a non-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization with goals to promote diversity through equal access to healthcare through pop culture.
Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors ...
. As a solo artist, he has released two full-length albums, two EPs, one film score, and various live recordings. His full-length albums are ''
Sebastopol'' (2001) and ''
Terroir Blues'' (2003), the first released on the
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...
Artemis Records and the second released on his own label, Transmit Sound.
An EP of songs from the ''Sebastopol'' sessions, entitled ''ThirdShiftGrottoSlack'' was released in 2002. His score for the
independent film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...
''The Slaughter Rule'' (2002, directors Alex and Andrew Smith) was released in 2003 on the independent record label Bloodshot Records. Farrar formed his own independent record label in 2003, Transmit Sound (formerly called "Act/Resist Records"). In 2004, Farrar released a six-song live acoustic EP entitled ''Live EP''. Also 2004 marked the release of the live CD/DVD ''
Stone, Steel & Bright Lights''.
Farrar worked closely with keyboardist
Steven Drozd
Steven Gregory Drozd (born June 11, 1969) is an American musician. He is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter for the Flaming Lips, Electric Würms, and other projects.
Early life
Drozd was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in Ri ...
of
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...
during the recording of ''Sebastopol''. Eric Heywood,
Mark Spencer from the
Blood Oranges
Blood orange is a variety of orange with crimson, blood-colored flesh.
Blood orange may also refer to:
Film
* Blood Orange (1953 film), ''Blood Orange'' (1953 film), starring Tom Conway, U.S. title ''Three Stops to Murder''
* Blood Orange (2016 f ...
, and the rock group
Canyon
A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...
have often accompanied Farrar in his solo recordings and performances. Spencer is now a full-time member of Son Volt. In 2006, Farrar announced the formation of a new band,
Gob Iron, with Varnaline's Anders Parker. The songs which would make up their debut album were recorded in autumn 2004, while Farrar was in the process of recording a new Son Volt album. In April 2019, Parker and Farrar released a
7-inch single
In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...
using the Gob Iron moniker.
Farrar collaborated with
Ben Gibbard
Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a membe ...
(of the indie rock band
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The ...
) to create all of the music for the soundtrack for the 2009 documentary film ''One Fast Move or I'm Gone'', about
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian ...
's time spent at
Big Sur
Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Range, Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from th ...
. The
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
was released on October 20, 2009.
In 2012, Farrar along with
Will Johnson,
Yim Yames, and
Anders Parker collaborated on the
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, and composer widely considered to be one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American Left, A ...
archive project, ''
New Multitudes
''New Multitudes'' is a Woody Guthrie tribute album performed by Jay Farrar, Will Johnson (musician), Will Johnson, Anders Parker, and Jim James, Yim Yames to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Guthrie's birth, released through Rounder Record ...
''.
Style
His musical style ranges from sparse, unaccompanied
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
to full
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
band arrangements comparable to
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
or
Dinosaur Jr. His solo recordings also often include sound experiments, reminiscent of psychedelia, with a distinct
Eastern
Eastern or Easterns may refer to:
Transportation
Airlines
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
bent. One of the hallmarks of his sound is the use of alternate tunings on the
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
. His love for Woody Guthrie inspired a custom guitar made by
Creston Lea of
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...
. The guitar was made from artifacts Farrar gathered from the site of Guthrie's childhood home.
References
External links
Jay Farrar reviews at the Country Standard Time website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrar, Jay
1966 births
Living people
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
American male singer-songwriters
Singer-songwriters from Illinois
American rock singers
American country singer-songwriters
People from Belleville, Illinois
Son Volt members
Uncle Tupelo members
Guitarists from Illinois
20th-century American guitarists
Dutch East India Trading artists
Sire Records artists
Warner Records artists
Country musicians from Illinois
Belleville High School-West alumni
20th-century American male musicians
Gob Iron members