David McClister
Jay Farrar (center) formed Son Volt out of Uncle Tupelo’s ashes.
Jay Farrar will always remember Madison. When he was in Uncle Tupelo, the pioneering alt-country band from southern Illinois that also featured a fresh-faced Jeff Tweedy, the city became a regular touring stop. “Madison was one of the first college towns that Uncle Tupelo played almost exclusively during the early period,” Farrar says.
Following Uncle Tupelo’s acrimonious breakup in 1994, Tweedy picked up the ashes and formed Wilco. Farrar went off and founded Son Volt — a band punctuated by the singer/guitarist’s dusty, weary vocals. Farrar, now 50, returns to Madison on March 30 at the Majestic Theatre in support of Son Volt’s eighth album, Notes of Blue. The day before the tour began, Farrar spoke with Isthmus from his home in St. Louis about his new songs, music in the Trump era and his old bandmate.
Notes of Blue is the convergence of blues, folk and country. What inspired these songs?
Over the last year and a half, I’ve been doing acoustic trio shows in support of the reissue of the first Son Volt record, Trace. As a result of those shows and primarily playing acoustic guitar on the last couple of Son Volt records, I wanted to focus on more electric guitar this time around. That meant bringing out the amplifier that’s pictured on the cover of Trace. There’s always been that duality to Son Volt — the up-tempo electric stuff and the more acoustic-based stuff.
Trace was released 22 years ago, and Uncle Tupelo’s debut, No Depression, came out in 1990. Does it feel like that long ago?
The years fly by, for sure. As I’ve been going through songs to pick for the set list on this tour, I am confronted by the idea that some of the songs don’t resonate quite as much as others. But I have picked some that go back to Uncle Tupelo.
Do you think Notes of Blue will broaden people’s appreciation of the blues and encourage them to dig back into your influences for this record?
I hope so. Blues was such an important part of early country music, which suggested that I should focus more on blues this time around. I grew up hearing country music through my family. My father sang Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams songs, and the blues were a foundational part of what they were doing.
Some of the songs are pretty dark. Is Notes of Blue a soundtrack for America in 2017?
I think the message of the blues is that music can lift you up and transcend your current situation. In terms of any overt political content in these songs, I was going for something more spiritual. But during the last couple of months, I’ve been writing lots of songs. And every day, I read the news and think, ‘What would Woody Guthrie say about this?’ I’m looking at songwriting from more of a topical perspective.
How are relations between you and Jeff Tweedy these days?
Within the last six months, we communicated via email after a long stretch, so that was good.
