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Jay Farrar, a favored son of St. Louis’ music scene, returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall for a career-spanning show on Saturday, December 19, with the Son Volt album Trace given a healthy share of the night’s attention.
“The setlist,” Farrar says, “is comprised of about 50 percent Trace songs, and the rest are taken from various records, whether Son Volt or solo. Trace was a significant record for me, in terms of expanding my songwriting. I was taking more time for songs to evolve and then recording them onto 4-tracks. I’ve always played about half the songs from ‘Trace’ and now it’s a good time to play the rest.”
That said, this won’t be a literal interpretation, song-by-song, as Farrar says that “they’re played non-sequentially, mostly due to instrumentation and the changing of instruments. It just flows better that way.”
The recently re-released Trace is now a mature 20 years of age, and Farrar decided this was the year to “mark the anniversary and do the songs in a more-elemental way.”
In order to help with that, early Son Volt steel guitarist Eric Heywood is back, and according to Farrar, “he played on the original recording of Trace, and I’d wanted to reunite with him. Gary Hunt is playing several instruments, including steel guitar. A lot of people seem to respond well to the two songs from that album that have dual-steel guitar instrumentation. That’s something that doesn’t get done a whole lot, and something that we’re doing with this tour.”
As with a number of musicians, Farrar’s enamored with the venue he’ll play in St. Louis, The Sheldon.
“We actually recorded a show there and put out a CD,” he says. “It’s a unique experience to play there. You can drop a coin on the floor of the stage, and it’s so resonant that it’ll reverberate through the whole space. It’s very conducive to vocals. With electric instrumentation, you have to control it a bit. The place has a great vibe.”
Farrar’s time on the road isn’t coming to a close, by any means, with a healthy tour schedule the norm.
“I have a family now,” he says. “I want to be around for my kids as much as possible. I’m still out touring a third of the year, I’d imagine. Those are surely long days of driving and performance. It’s a lifestyle that’s not going to end for me anytime soon…the part of working 20-hour days is physically demanding, for sure.”
Of late, Farrar’s been writing and “I’ve recorded two songs that I thought were headed for a solo record. And I’ve written about 10 or 12 that I thought fit within the framework of a Son Volt recording. One of the solo songs has a Celtic feel, and the Son Volt songs are blues-imprinted. But I just listened to a Led Zeppelin record recently, and I had the epiphany that they really didn’t care. There might be something Celtic and, obviously, they had all the blues stuff. I mean, they just put it all together, on one record. So mine may all just be for one record.”
Farrar says that he still picks up on new music, “little bits here or there of contemporary music. Phosphorescent is something I’ve picked up on in different situations. It sounds pretty good to me. For the most part, I’m always looking for the historical perspectives. It kind of helps shape and inspire me. I just pulled my vinyl collection of storage, including 78s. I’m listening to lots of Hank Williams, Gatemouth Brown, Howlin’ Wolf.
“I met Kevin Belford when I was playing a show with my brother and Gary Hunt and Kevin had written Devil at the Confluence, which is absolutely great,” he adds. “I told him at the time, when there was no blues museum, that his book served as our blues museum. We’ve sort become closer over the years; we go to baseball games. He’s a great resource for the city, and it’s great to sit back and talk to him about local blues icons. He always knows the story.”
This coming week, Farrar’ll be highlighting a signature album that’s now reached that classic stage of its own—two decades and a re-release will do that. His own historical imprint’s been made, and continues to be deepened.
See Jay Farrar perform music from Son Volt's Trace as part of The Sheldon Sessions on Saturday, December 19 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30, or $25 balcony. The Sheldon is located at 3648 Washington. For more information, call 314-534-1111 or visit The Sheldon's website.
