Collaborations help Son Volt leader flex musical muscles

Son Volt is but one project of leader Jay Farrar (center). The roots-rock band plays Minglewood Hall on Tuesday night.

Over the past few years, Jay Farrar has been busy working on songs with two of America's greatest writers: Jack Kerouac and Woody Guthrie. Never mind that both men have been dead for decades. Farrar has been working hard to a bring their words to life on a pair of posthumous projects.

For Farrar -- the St. Louis singer-songwriter and veteran leader of roots-rock bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt -- it's been a rare break from his own songwriting work.

Son Volt is but one project of leader Jay Farrar (center). The roots-rock band plays Minglewood Hall on Tuesday night.

This week Farrar is back to business, as he leads Son Volt into Midtown's Minglewood Hall for a performance on Tuesday.

Earlier this year, Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard joined forces to release a soundtrack to the documentary "One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur," based on his 1962 novel.

The pair also played a series of live shows in support of the project last month. "Working in a different context like that is challenging, but fulfilling," says Farrar. "I've never really juggled two projects at the same time, but it's been good."

For Farrar the process of collaboration -- with Kerouac and with Gibbard -- was a unique opportunity to flex a different kind of creative muscle. "Working with Ben was interesting; he was able to bring things to the songs that I wouldn't have. And getting into the text of the novel, and getting caught up in the spirit of, in a weird way, actually working with Jack Kerouac, was obviously exciting."

Farrar was also chosen by the estate of Woody Guthrie to complete music for a number of the folk singer's unfinished lyrics as part of the Mermaid Avenue albums series (an honor previously held by British songwriter Billy Bragg and Farrar's erstwhile Uncle Tupelo bandmate Jeff Tweedy).

Farrar says his work on the Guthrie project has also impacted his own writing. "Working with someone else's words, it takes you away from being overly self-conscious; it gives you a different perspective on what you're doing, and on your own songs."

With his collaborative projects on the back burner for the moment, Farrar is refocusing on his long-running band Son Volt, which is touring in support of its latest LP, American Central Dust.

Following 2007's experimental album The Search, American Central Dust is a return to classic Son Volt form, as it prominently features pedal steel and more standard guitar tunings.

"I've always tried to follow wherever inspiration goes, and the pendulum does tend to swing," says Farrar. "With the previous record, The Search, there were a lot of songs and the approach was about trying to expand the sound of Son Volt, and this time around it was about getting back to a fundamental aesthetic, I think.

"But as with the past couple recordings, I've ventured into some theme-based songwriting, whether it's a historical narrative like 'Sultana' or picking a theme like Keith Richards (allegedly snorting his father's remains) in the song 'Cocaine and Ashes.' "

With more than 20 years worth of songs under his belt, Farrar has plenty of material to choose from in concert, but those eager to hear a lot of his early songs shouldn't hold their breath.

Although his Uncle Tupelo work is still highly regarded by fans, Farrar says he's generally not one to look back. "I do have some difficulty finding music to play from that period of when you're 21, 22 years old," he says. "Its getting more and more difficult to relate to being that person you were when you were that age. I guess it is a sort of a weird disassociation. But I always try to pick out some of those songs to play in the live context."

For Farrar, there's the current Son Volt tour, and future plans that include more Kerouac shows with Gibbard in 2010, and further work on the Guthrie project, which may see release next year as well.

While commercial considerations have never been a major concern, Farrar says he's more than content with the kind of career that he's carved out for himself.

"What has always been paramount for me is to have a creative outlet. If that were to ever go away, where there was no way to make records or get them out, it would be tough. I'd have to do something else," he says, with a chuckle. "I feel fortunate that I have been creating music for as long as I have been able to."

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Son Volt with Peter Bruntell

Tuesday, 8 p.m. at Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison Ave. Tickets are $20 and are available at the Minglewood box office, online at minglewoodhall.com or by calling 1-866-609-1744.

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