Drowning in a low-voltage interview with Son Volt

There's really no easy way to put it. With all due respect to his brilliant music career -- playing Lennon to Jeff Tweedy's McCartney for six years in Uncle Tupelo, and later penning bonafide Americana classics like "Windfall" and "Tear Stained Eye" -- talking to Son Volt's frontman Jay Farrar in an interview situation is a little like conversing with a cigar store wooden Indian. Suffice to say, no answer over-stays its welcome, any response above a shrug or two syllables is a triumph, and winning any gesture so grand as a smirk or even a chuckle is worth buying yourself a celebratory beer.

To some extent, Farrar can be forgiven for his stoicism. If everyone on earth could write just one song on the level of "Windfall," there wouldn't be much need for idle chit-chat at all. Not that a lot of folks haven't tried already, as any subscriber to the Uncle Tupelo worshipping bi-monthly No Depression could testify. Sure, Farrar's schtick can be traced directly back to Gram Parsons, Hank Williams and the Carter Family, and bands like Jason & the Scorchers and Rank & File beat Tupelo to the country-punk punch by a good five years or so. But today it's hard not to hear the likes of say, the talented but hopelessly Farrarian Whiskeytown, and not think "scab team." And because Farrar is notoriously uncomfortable talking about his position as an alt-country icon, it's with a wicked sense of mischief that you bring a copy of No Depression with Whiskeytown gracing the cover to the interview as an icebreaker.

Alas, when you're finally seated across from Farrar and multi-instrumentalist band-mate Dave Boquist to talk about their third album, Wide Swing Tremolo, in a pre-soundcheck interview, you flinch from pulling the rag out of your bag. Ditto that copy of the third album by Tweedy's post-Tupelo outfit, Wilco. Farrar is yawning. Without opening his mouth. Boquist, the loquacious one, quietly stirs his drink. Somewhere over at the bar some yahoo is going to town with an electric screwdriver. This is gonna be a rough one.

So ... I've brought a copy of No Depression with me, and I figured we'd just go through it and talk about the Cult of Uncle Tupelo.

Dave Boquist: The cult of what?

Jay Farrar: (smirking) I've never heard that expression before.

Seriously though, one could argue that half the bands covered in here owe a nod to you, the mag itself started as a Tupelo online fanzine and you can still count a couple of references to yourself on every page. Doesn't that ever creep you out?

Farrar: Um, yeah. It is strange at times. I do think some people try to over-romanticize it a bit -- almost to the point of being myth. Uncle Tupelo was there, and they represent a certain period of time, but there were so many bands that came before that were doing similar things with similar influences, and so many bands after that.

So if you ever got panned in there, would you see it as a relief or be really worried?

Boquist: Are you saying we did? In that magazine?

No, I'm asking *if*.

Boquist: Well, everybody's entitled to their own opinion. I don't think it would affect us. Are you asking if it would affect us?

Well yeah, like if hell froze over.

(Long pause)

Farrar: We'll see. (Chuckle)

The new album opens with "Straightface," which drops like a feedback-and-voice-effects-drenched wake-up bomb. Was that a deliberate 'We gotta get out of this place' type of move on your part?

Farrar: Well, you know, with every new recording situation, you basically try to find some new instrumentation or try some different things, so it's not necessarily that we're trying to get away from that. Although, pedal steel guitar is one thing we used quite a bit less of because we'd used it quite a bit in the past, and when you're searching for inspiration, you don't find the same inspiration in the same sounds. The voice effects on that song came about more by accident. We were doing the vocals and the levels in the headphones were really high, and the headphones were starting to distort. But I thought that it sounded good, so we figured out a way to get it distorted to tape, which was by running it through an old tube-free amp.

I've always been intrigued by the idea of the multi-instrumentalist, like where you'll have a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and then one guy that's playing guitar, fiddle, banjo, lap steel, dobro, and probably a tuba if there's one in the studio. How did you get that role in this band, Dave?

Boquist: I think everybody in the band can pick up an instrument and play something on it. Jim [Boquist, bass] is a pretty good piano player, and Mike [Heidorn, drums] plays guitar ... and trombone. In a live situation, it just takes too much time to switch instruments and stuff, and you just have to assign one person to do that, and I guess that's what my deal is in the band. To try and play the things that add to the rhythm. But by no means am I the only one that would be able to do that. That's just what I've done and that's what I'm doing.

It's easy to hear the influence of Gram Parsons and earlier country music in your songs, but do you take any guilty pleasure in mainstream country radio?

Farrar: (Smirk) No, I haven't found anything on commercial country radio of interest.

Would you have a problem with a mainstream artist covering one of your songs and turning it into a hit?

Farrar: It would depend on who the artist was. But, I'll cross that bridge ... if it ever presented itself.

Well, it had to be an honor for Steve Earle to cover "Windfall" live.

Farrar: Yeah, it was a surprise when I first heard about it. It is an honor of sorts to hear him do the song, and I also had the opportunity to sing it with him once.

Boquist: I had the opportunity to sing "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" with him. That was a great time -- I was way out of tune, and made a big fool out of myself, but it sure felt good. He's just a fun guy to be around and play with.

Last year, Roger McGuinn came out and played with y'all in New York. Did he offer you any sage advice?

Boquist: Yeah, I got some good advice from him on playing 12-string. Just you know, 'How do you get all the meat -- how do you get three fingers on Rickenbackers?' And he said, 'Well, it's two fingers.' He's a generous guy with information. He told us a lot about web pages and stuff like that.

Farrar: Yeah, he has a very strong interest in computers, so he probably prompted me to get one.

So do you check into your Web site now? Keep up with the Son Volt news groups?

Farrar: Ah no, just check up on news. Non-music things.

All right ... last, inevitable question. You're both three albums into your respective post-Tupelo careers now. Do you see yourself ever collaborating with Jeff Tweedy again?

Farrar: I guess it depends on what you mean by collaborate. It depends on the circumstances. I wouldn't rule it out.

Do you feel any sort of ongoing Son Volt vs. Wilco competition?

Farrar: Fortunately no, I don't.

RICHARD SKANSE