What are you most excited for when you return home to St. Louis?“We all talk about how there’s just this vibe that St. Louis has. It’s the atmosphere and the people and the girlfriends and the family. It’s just home, and it’s a vibe you long for when you’re on the road.” - Jesse Farrar, bassist
For two years, Old Salt Union has held an underground relevancy in St. Louis. They are the five-man group of 25- to 31-year-olds that have been described as anything from newgrass to popgrass to folk to alternative country to progressive string bluegrass to classical jazzy jam.
But that doesn’t matter.
The reason it doesn’t matter is because Old Salt Union has taken the confines of the typical indie genre, multi-descriptor chaos and stretched them to include its very multidimensional, energetic and detailed sound, regardless of labels. “It’s music,” bassist Jesse Farrar says. “Anything is up for grabs.”
This malleability that Old Salt Union has allowed itself might have something to do with the fact that, together, the members represent somewhat of a hodgepodge of classically trained, jazz-enthused, alternatively inspired collectivism.
It also might have something to do with their family heritage—Farrar’s uncle is Jay Farrar, the founder of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, which happen to have been two of the leading bands in the alternative country scene.
But it also might also have something to do with the youthful age of the band, which has put them in the middle of a cultural resurgence of bluegrass music and a cookie-cutter pop phenomenon. “We don’t strive to be relevant,” Farrar says. “But we can’t deny that we have young minds at the same time. We’re in the business of stretching musical genres, not necessarily following them.”
Bluegrass hasn’t historically been a genre all that celebrated by youthful generations. But Farrar says that’s starting to change because of the musicians out there who are making bluegrass and folk a priority for current music trends. He thinks the cultural movement most likely began with the 2000 film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The band really gained local and national fame via its awards for Best Folk Song and Best World Song at the Indie Music Channel Awards, its performance at Wakarusa Music Festival, and its position in the Daytona 500 lineup this past February.
The five men have taken a hands-on approach to everything related to the band’s business, marketing and financing. But one crucial member of the band often goes without recognition—the band’s tour bus, Rosemary. “We think of Rosemary as the only female in the group,” Farrar says. “We basically live in her. She’s our creative home.”
Old Salt Union can’t wait to park Rosemary back home in Belleville, Ill., for LouFest. Last year, the band went together as audience members, and to be playing in the festival as artists is almost poetic for the guys. Not to mention, the band’s new album, Bridge, drops a week before the festival at the Old Rock House, on August 29. Farrar’s favorite part of the project is how collaboratively it was created, with everyone in the band pulling on individual strengths to make it vibrant.
Not only will the album focus on bridging the band’s many incorporated genres, its content will also be based on bridging state lines as this Midwestern band travels to spread its mandolin swingin’ and banjo pickin’ across America.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” Farrar says. “Or something like that.” That’s the band’s manager and guitarist, Ryan Murphy’s, favorite quote, Farrar thinks, and he says it captures what they’ve done and how they’ve been so successful in such a short time period.
Which is why, to prepare the band to its fullest potential, every one of the band members recently quit their jobs to focus on the music. “It’s a risky move, I’ll admit it,” Farrar says. “But we’re not dead yet.”
In fact, they are far from it.
