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Friday, November 02, 2001

By Scott Mervis, Weekend Editor, Post-Gazette

There's a place, in the cyberspace world of the Postcard Digest, where Jay Farrar is known simply as "Jay."

	Jay Farrar WHAT: He performs an acoustic show with guitarist Mark Spencer. Opening act is Varnaline. WHERE: Club Laga. WHEN: Tonight at 8. TICKETS: $15; 412-323-1919.

In the newsgroup dedicated to alt-country music, Farrar, one of the leaders of the genre, is under constant surveillance. They've been known to discuss everything from what kind of mood he was in last night to whether he wears boxers or briefs. Most of all, they love to compare him to Jeff. As in Tweedy, the guy who in 1987 joined Farrar in forming Uncle Tupelo, a countrified punk band (or punkified country band) that launched a rebirth of Americana.

Jeff was the wacky, whimsical one. Jay was serious as a funeral, prone to dark moods and intense, downhearted songs. By 1994, the two high school friends couldn't stand each other anymore and split into two groups, Son Volt (Jay) and Wilco (Tweedy), the twin pillars of alt-country.

While Wilco seemed to grow stronger and more expansive with every record, bursting the seams of the genre, the Son Volt effect was more static.

So, with his latest record, "Sebastopol," Farrar has gone solo, recruiting a more hands-on co-producer, John Agnello, and players like Steve Drodze of Flaming Lips and John Wurster of Superchunk to embellish his songs in a more slanted and enchanted way.

"It was a matter of just starting fresh, seeing what would happen," Farrar says. "Certainly when you play with new musicians, there's an element of the unknown where you don't know what's going to happen."

For Farrar, the choice was between the great unknown or the band chemistry he had with Son Volt.

"There's something to be said for the chemistry that develops from being in a band over the years," Farrar says. "After five years of doing the same thing, there comes a time when you need a change. Someone like Neil Young, they make a change every year."

Young has definitely been a powerful influence on Farrar, both directly and through the cowpunk bands from the '80s that drew inspiration from Neil and Crazy Horse. As for being some kind of pioneer, Farrar did not have that feeling when he was starting Uncle Tupelo.

"Not at all. We were just trying to find our own way," he says. "There were so many bands that had come before that had done similar things, bands like Rank and File and Green on Red. We were drawing inspiration from them. We were doing it a little bit different, but it certainly wasn't a new thing."

Farrar has had cause to rummage through the UT catalog recently, in preparation for the release of an anthology and reissues with outtakes and live recordings.

"There are some weaknesses there," he says, "but overall I think it sounds good."

Asked what he thinks of Wilco, Farrar laughs in mild disgust.

"What do I think of them? Past or present?" he says. "I haven't seen them in a while. I just think what anyone would: They're a good band."

What he hasn't been keeping up with is Postcard and all the opinions that fly around about him. How can he resist it?

"It's very easy," he says. "I'm just not the kind of person who needs to know about that stuff."