Jay Farrar is a quiet, busy man. Farrar, 37, first made musical waves in the early 1980s as co-founder, with Jeff Tweedy, of Uncle Tupelo, the band many critics credit with founding the "alt-country" genre, country-influenced alternative rock.
After Uncle Tupelo's leaders acrimoniously ended the band, Tweedy went on to form the critically acclaimed Wilco while Farrar fronted Son Volt for several years before recording two albums as a solo artist. Recently, Farrar formed a record label, Transmit Sound.
From a tour stop in Brooklyn, the notoriously shy, tight-lipped Farrar answers and - gasp! - even jokes through 10 Pressing Questions about his new live album, his children and plans for a fashion line and energy drink.
(1) You have been part of two well-known bands, and now you are a solo artist who runs his own label. You're like the Orson Welles of indie rock. Is it better to have all the control? (Laughs) For the most part, it's better. It's a very liberating feeling to have complete autonomy. I can do whatever I want. The downside of that is that I'm self-financed. You can't really get the word out there as much as larger record companies can with their budgets.
What made you want to finance Stone, Steel & Bright Lights, a live album, rather than put that money toward a new studio album? It just seemed like the right time to do it. I had been wanting to take out a band to play the songs from the two solo records for a while. I had only done a short tour before with those songs. And I wanted to record it.
Many reviews are saying the live versions of these songs are even better than the studio versions. Do you feel that's true? I think to some extent, yes. It shows that songs evolve over time. You rework them. When you start touring, songs are in their very embryonic stages. Over the course of the tour, they take on new meaning.
(2) I understand you don't like the term "alt-country." (Pause) I don't celebrate it. I don't wear baseball caps that say "alt-country" on them. But I am also resigned to the fact that term is going to be applied to whatever I do, whether what I do is influenced by country or not.
You also bristle when Uncle Tupelo is credited with founding "alt-country." Yeah. Throwing that air of importance on anyone is a little bit overstepping things, I think. I don't think you can pinpoint any one band as being that influential.
Do you ever talk with Jeff (Tweedy) nowadays? Not in the new millennium, no. Actually, after Uncle Tupelo ended, we kept in contact for a couple of years. But now we primarily travel in different circles, so we don't really talk.
Do you listen to Wilco's records? I've heard the first two. I still haven't heard the third one. In clubs, I've heard the fourth one . . . (confused) is it the fifth one? How many are there now? (Laughs) The one I have not heard is Summer Teeth. I have heard most of the Yankee (Hotel Foxtrot) album, and yeah, there are elements of everything I hear that I think are good. I may not always like it all. From an aesthetic perspective, I may not always be totally in line with what I'm hearing, but, you know.
(3) You're known to be a real literary guy. I mostly read the paper these day. When I was younger I had a lot more time, and I did read a lot. What are your favorite books? As I Lay Dying by Faulkner. On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Kerouac died here in St. Petersburg, you know. (Interested) In St. Petersburg? Really? Did he have a house there? Yes, right on 10th Avenue. His name was in the phone book for decades after he died. He spent his last days here, drunk, watching The Beverly Hillbillies.
(Laughter)
(4) You married Monica, your high school sweetheart, and you have two children now. Tell me about them. Ethan is 5, and Ava is 2. It's a positive, life-changing experience. Just watching their development, it's great. My son is into sports and Pokemon. My daughter is into music, a little, but she's only 2.
Do you ever take your kids on the road? Occasionally. Have they been able to see lots of neat places? They've been able to see lots of hotel rooms. Hotel rooms and sound checks.
(5) You're so reserved and quiet. Does your wife have a similar personality, or is she more the opposite of you? She is more of an opposite of me, but I am not exactly the same person I was when I was 20 years old, either.
(6) Magazine profiles of you regularly mention the way you dress, the thrift-store clothes and clunky glasses. One writer referred to your "anonymous style." What's the secret to the Jay Farrar look? (Laughs) Um, yeah. I bet you just get up and throw on a shirt, huh? Yeah, "anonymous" doesn't bother me at all. (Pause) Fashion in general is kind of diabolical.
Now that you have the record label, can we expect you to be like other rock stars and start a clothing line? (Laughs) Yeah, I'm formulating the Look. I expect to unveil it soon. There is also an energy drink in the works. (Laughs) Along the lines of Pimp Juice, but I'm coming up with my own name. You know, (hip-hop star) Nelly is from St. Louis, I'm from St. Louis. I figured, why can't I put products out there as well?
(7) You're not fond of computers and chat rooms. Another alt-country icon, Ryan Adams, is always on his own Web site chatting with fans. I am fond of computers. I am averse to chat rooms. So fans shouldn't expect to just log on and talk to Jay all night long? (Pause) Usually not. (Pause) But you never know. Never say never.
(8) Do you have a favorite meal of the day? Breakfast. Today my ideal breakfast in Brooklyn was a bagel with egg and cheese.
(9) You're known for writing terrific lyrics. When you were a kid, whose lyrics did you admire? When I heard Townes Van Zandt, his lyrics really left a big impression on me.
(10) Is there an instrument you wish you could play with better facility? Or one you can't play at all and wish you could? The sitar. I've got one. I've only been able to get one short riff out of it in the course of five years.
Well, maybe you should stop focusing so much energy on your Pimp Juice and practice the sitar!
(Laughs) I really should, it's true.
- Gina Vivinetto can be reached at 727 893-8565 or gina@sptimes.com
PREVIEW
Jay Farrar performs with Mark Spencer and Brandon Butler at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa. $10 advance, $12 day of show. (813) 977-6474.
