A quarter-century after Illinois country-rock band Uncle Tupelo helped define the nascent Americana genre by covering A.P. Carter’s hoary 1936 tune “No Depression in Heaven,” the music associated with No Depression magazine and with groups like Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks signifies an alternative to country music, just as it did in 1990.
After leaving Uncle Tupelo and fellow alt-country songwriter Jeff Tweedy in 1994 to pursue his own career, Jay Farrar has recorded interesting variations on country rock and power pop as a solo artist and with country-rock ensembles Son Volt and Gob Iron. Farrar’s version of Americana has a complex tone — on his beautifully textured 2003 post-Gene Clark track “California,” Farrar’s dry singing communicates an all-American unease that mainstream country often avoids.
Farrar performs tonight at City Winery with multi-instrumentalist Gary Hunt, who will flesh out the singer's tales of uplift and defeat. Tickets (available here) are $22-$30. The show starts at 8 p.m.
Jay Farrar, front man for alt-country giants Son Volt, drops in to play a couple songs off their new album The Search. Here he performs "Highways and Cigarettes." http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/08/12/son_volt/
