WHAT YOU NEED NOW - CONTENT UPDATED THROUGH THE DAY
June 11, 2005
MUSIC REVIEW: Jay Farrar - Stone, Steel & Bright Lights
by Maura Conway
Huntington News Network Contributing Writer
Huntington (HNN) — In an age when music is defined by genre or "sounds" and scenes, it's a pleasure to connect with a lone voice. Some voices you hear in your card while in bridge traffic and suddenly your transported to a land with endless sky. Jay Farrar does that, and this time, with Stone, Steel & Bright Lights [LIVE] you can also feel like you're an audience member sharing the magnetic thrill of his show.
With the band Canyon as his backup, this CD presents the intimate works of Terroir Blues (2003) and Sebastopol (2001) as fully orchestrated in the live setting, most appropriate for his genre, "alt country". This is uniquely American music taking the grit of rock and fusing it with the ghost of authentic country and western.
Jay haunts the CD with earnest earthy riffs, some harmonica, and his deep droning voice offering the lyrics from the soul of any guy in the corner of a smoky bar: regret, loneliness, mistakes, living life in spite of pain. For fans, Stone, Steel & Bright Lights is a trip through the songs they know by heart with the added touch of open air and a backing band that can hold their own; they'll sing along to "Damn Shame"or "Voodoo Candle" and probably bring out the lighter.
To sweeten the experience are two new songs, "Doesn't Have to Be This Way" and "Six String Belief" which hint that he is still rebellious in one hand, sentimental in another, but he's grown. For new converts, this is an excellent introduction to the work of a man who arguably stands in the ranks of Graham Parsons, Mike Nesmith, Johnny Cash, etc.
Treats on Stone, Steel & Bright Lights include a cover of Syd Barrett's "Lucifer Sam" and Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" both channeled through him with distinction and reverence. The cherry-on-top, of course, is an 11-song DVD of performance footage available.
If you haven't caught him on Austin City Limits or Mountain Stage on the radio, or remember him from the legendary band Uncle Tupelo or spin-off Son Volt, then here he is in the ideal live setting without over-dubbing or edits. Sometimes live releases seem like a cop-out or fodder for just the obsessive collector. In this case Stone, Steel & Bright Lights is required listening for anyone who wants that road trip cross-country with a guy who knows you better than he should, and you don't even have to leave home.
