The Wake

Few musicians possess the humility and quietude that Jay Farrar is known for. As the songwriter and frontman for alternative country greats Son Volt, Farrar has become somewhat of a spokesperson over the years, an irony considering that he is a known introvert.

“I’ve come to terms with labels,” Farrar says of brandings like alt country and Americana. “I’m okay with whatever they want to throw out there now.”

However you categorize Son Volt, the music is of the highest quality. The latest record, Okemah and the Melody of Riot, features a new lineup and a fine-tuned sound, but still remains true to the feel of the band’s early CDs like 1995’s Trace.

“It’s a good dynamic and a good group of guys,” Farrar told me. “This band has a pretty diversified background.” On tour and headed to Minneapolis, Son Volt is continually tweaking songs. “Things seem to evolve as we stay on tour,” the singer says. “If for nothing else, just to feel like you’re coming up with something new.”

A fresh sound is something that Son Volt offers to listeners. They make the classic quintet of two guitars, bass, drums, and keys sound novel and familiar at the same time. New tracks like, “Who” summon the spirit of 70s rock without seeming nostalgic or cheap.

“There’s so much stuff I haven’t heard out there,” says Farrar. “Historical stuff, be it blues, rock, reggae, whatever … people are always surprised when they ask me who my latest alternative country group is, because I don’t listen to anything like that at all.”

It’s not surprising that a person like Jay Farrar doesn’t follow musical trends in great detail; his albums don’t get bogged down in the cultural zeitgeist like those of his contemporaries. That’s not to say the songs aren’t relevant. Lately, Farrar has been playing some of the most political music of his career.

“The revolution will be televised / Across living rooms of the great divide” he sings on “Jet Pilot,” a track with a rather blunt message. “A lot of the songs were written during the run up to the election of 2004,” Farrar said. “Ideas and issues were being kicked around.” He adds, however, “I don’t, as a writer, want to be a political writer, to be limited in terms of content.”

Jay Farrar has never allowed himself to be confined or limited. From his days in Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy to his highly experimental solo albums, the writer has carried the attitude that personal satisfaction comes before pleasing critics. Jay’s career has been paralleled, in this respect, by that of his former band mate, who has also found success on his own terms with the band Wilco.

At times, Son Volt’s music is very fluid and spontaneous and at others, very structured. With Farrar writing all of the songs, it would be easy to assume that he tells his musicians what to play. “I usually have an idea of the way I want it to sound,” he says, “But you have to be flexible too … and that’s what’s been good about theses guys, they’re great.”

When asked if he had a method for writing, he says, “I used to write at home in the basement, or somewhere solitary. Now I have a rehearsal space; that’s really the only difference. As I’ve gotten older, I think I don’t take writing for granted like I did when I was young — when you could do it when you wanted.”

Over the years, Jay’s words have become more profound, and his lyrical structures have become more adventurous. Unlike most popular music, there is little repetition in the lyrics of his recent works. “It’s easy to write the music and words separately,” Farrar says. “I’m usually writing them down, for lack of a better word, in a stream of conscious fashion … I do very little editing.”

Okemah and the Melody of Riot marks a homecoming of sorts for the singer. It’s the first record from Son Volt since 1998’s Wide Swing Tremolo. During that seven-year span, Farrar recorded a string of increasingly experimental solo albums. Whether the move back to the old name and a familiar sound were deliberate or not remains to be seen. When asked if the resurrection of Son Volt is permanent, Farrar said, “I’d like to keep it going, and to do some solo records, too.”

Hearing Jay Farrar’s voice backed by a cohesive band like the current Son Volt lineup is refreshing. The mix of acoustic guitars and eerie tape loops on solo records like Terroir Blues was adventurous, but fell short of Farrar’s potential. On the DVD that accompanies the new CD, the group shows they have what it takes to bring the songs on Okemah and the Melody of Riot to life.

Filmed during the making of the new album, the DVD is a montage of studio sessions and live footage of the band. “When Legacy offered us the chance to release a documentary with the Okemah record, we said, ‘Sure, why not?’,” Farrar told me. “I guess you could think of it as a little window into the process of making a record and what this band is all about.”

There’s a better way to get a look at what Son Volt is all about, and that’s to see them at First Avenue on October 13.