New Multitudes is an intimate interpretation of American icon and musical legend Woody Guthrie's previously unrecorded lyrics from a dream team of Americana torchbearers: Jay Farrar (Son Volt), Will Johnson (Centro-matic), Anders Parker (Varnaline), and Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket). What makes this album such a rarity in today's music world is the allowance of the songs' infectious simplicity to stand alone in all their glory. In doing so, Farrar, Johnson, Parker, and Yames have paid the greatest compliment to Woody Guthrie and the collaborative spirit he so greatly embodied. This is an album which seamlessly converges the sepia-toned essence of the time honored past with the risks needed to forge the future.

17 tracks. Slight scuffs on disc will not affect play.

Jack Kerouac was a literary rock star, lionized by his fans. He was called the avatar of the Beat Movement, a new voice of his generation. But along with sudden fame and media hype came his unraveling. The new film, One Fast Move or I'm Gone- Kerouac's Big Sur, takes us back to the cabin he retreated to in the Big Sur woods, the Beat haunts of San Francisco and New York City for an unflinching look at the compelling events his book is based on. The story unfolds through Kerouac's prose, first-hand recollections from Kerouac's contemporaries, as well as writers, poets, actors and musicians who have been deeply influenced by Kerouac's unique gifts.Appearing in the film are Sam Shepard, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, S.E. Hinton, Donal Logue, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Hunter and many more. The stunning, High Definition visual imagery is set to original music composed and performed by recording artists Jay Farrar of Son Volt and Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.
Gibbard stayed in Big Sur to compose songs for his band's 2008 Grammy-nominated album, Narrow Stairs. For many years, Jay Farrar's songwriting has been inspired and influenced by Kerouac's compositional style. Gibbard and Farrar, having never previously met, discovered a mutual kinship in their passion for Kerouac's work while recording several songs for the documentary, produced by Kerouac Films. After the initial San Francisco recording session in July 2007, they decided to develop the project further to create an album using Kerouac's own words from the book as the lyrics.

New Multitudes is an intimate interpretation of American icon and musical legend Woody Guthrie's previously unrecorded lyrics from a dream team of Americana torchbearers: Jay Farrar (Son Volt), Will Johnson (Centro-matic), Anders Parker (Varnaline), and Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket). What makes this album such a rarity in today's music world is the allowance of the songs' infectious simplicity to stand alone in all their glory. In doing so, Farrar, Johnson, Parker, and Yames have paid the greatest compliment to Woody Guthrie and the collaborative spirit he so greatly embodied. This is an album which seamlessly converges the sepia-toned essence of the time honored past with the risks needed to forge the future.

On his 2001 solo debut, Sebastopol, and the follow-up EP, ThirdShiftGrottoSlack, Jay Farrar deployed a raft of new collaborators and unexpected musical ideas to fuel his departure from Son Volt. With Terroir Blues, he recycles some of those adventurous strategies while returning to a more conventional band- and song-oriented approach. The result is a disc that's complex and rewarding yet also feels familiar. Atop mostly low-key acoustic arrangements that emphasize piano and steel guitar, Farrar's usual densely written lyrics grapple with the impermanence of life ("Dent County"), love ("Hanging On to You"), and even civilization itself ("Cahokian"). Terroir Blues is also Farrar's first self-released album (Act/Resist Records), a fact that affords him a freedom reflected in the generous track list and experimentation. The disc boasts 23 cuts, including six noise snippets, two instrumental tunes, and reprises of four songs. --Anders Smith Lindall

Recorded throughout September and October of 2003, as Farrar criss-crossed the country with the DC-based 5-piece, Canyon, as his backing band, Stone Steel & Bright Lights offers a diverse collection of Farrar’s solo career. The album features 2 new originals ("Doesn’t Have to Be This Way" and "6 String Belief"), 15 songs from Farrar’s 3 solo releases, as well as 2 well-chosen covers (Syd Barrett’s "Lucifer Sam" and Neil Young’s "Like A Hurricane). As a bonus, the album package also features an 11-song DVD with performance footage from Slim’s in San Francisco. The new originals, "Doesn't Have to Be This Way" and "6 String Belief", prove to be especially timely eventhough they were written and recorded in 2003. According to Farrar, "'Doesn't Have to Be This Way' reflects the headlines in the newspapers during that period," and frames its surging protest against a "new world of shame" with a chiming piano and mournful lap steel. "6 String Belief" touches on an issue that seems equally close to the songwriter's heart - the strength of rock and roll to renew and redeem itself in moments when it becomes jaded, corrupted and bankrupt. The song, says Farrar, "deals with the idea of rebellion against the status quo in a music industry context. When corporate blitzes and payola reach a saturation point at the mainstream level, it spawns a reaction of good music - a grassroots, do-it-yourself level." He calls the song "two-thirds idealism and one third reality."

Stone, Steel & Bright Lights documents the acrobatic swings from quiet intimacy to guitar roar that typify Farrar's approach to live performance. Resisting the urge merely to regurgitate his studio recordings, Farrar, with Canyon's help, reinterprets, reinvents and offers up new material. As Stone, Steel & Bright Lights unfolds, some of the best songs of Farrar's solo career roll out of the speakers in astonishing new guises or with clever new twists in arrangement or instrumentation. This collection proves that the heart of Farrar's last three records lay not in manipulating tape but in his superb songwriting.

This hauntingly beautiful story vividly depicts the harsh life of a teenage boy coming of age in the rough & tumble landscape of Montana, in the tradition of 'The Last Picture Show' a rich & complicated tale of compassion in a cold climate. The soundtrack includes score selections by Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo), songs by Freakwater, Vic Chesnutt, Blood Oranges, & Pernice Brothers with previously unreleased recordings by Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, Ryan Adams, Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Flatlanders, & others. Bloodshot Records. 2002.

Jay Farrar's Sebastopol was easily among the finest rock releases of 2001, an eclectic showcase of the Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt founder's rough and smoky voice, willfully obscure lyrics, slow-churning rhythms, and petulant melodies. Sebastopol is Farrar's most accessible work to date--and his most adventurous, bringing keyboards, loops, and sampled strings into the mix. It sounds a bit like Steve Earle and Crazy Horse collaborating with folk-blues deconstructionists and studio wizards Califone. ThirdShiftGrottoSlack consists of four songs originally slated to appear on Sebastopol, but that were cut for space. From the sparse, Palace-like "Greenwich Time" to the beautiful, elegiac "Station to Station," these cuts perfectly complement that splendid, slow-churning album. The fifth tune is the real winner, a remix by celeb producer Tom Rothrock of one of Sebastopol's strongest cuts; it's a slinky, Big Beat-ish version of "Damn Shame" that suggests new avenues for Farrar to explore. --Mike McGonigal

CD/DVD edition. Jack Kerouac was a literary rock star, lionized by his fans. He was called the avatar of the Beat Movement, a new voice of his generation. But along with sudden fame and media hype came his unraveling. The new film, One Fast Move or I'm Gone- Kerouac's Big Sur, takes us back to the cabin he retreated to in the Big Sur woods, the Beat haunts of San Francisco and New York City for an unflinching look at the compelling events his book is based on. The story unfolds through Kerouac's prose, first-hand recollections from Kerouac's contemporaries, as well as writers, poets, actors and musicians who have been deeply influenced by Kerouac's unique gifts.Appearing in the film are Sam Shepard, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, S.E. Hinton, Donal Logue, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Hunter and many more. The stunning, High Definition visual imagery is set to original music composed and performed by recording artists Jay Farrar of Son Volt and Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.
Gibbard stayed in Big Sur to compose songs for his band's 2008 Grammy-nominated album, Narrow Stairs. For many years, Jay Farrar's songwriting has been inspired and influenced by Kerouac's compositional style. Gibbard and Farrar, having never previously met, discovered a mutual kinship in their passion for Kerouac's work while recording several songs for the documentary, produced by Kerouac Films. After the initial San Francisco recording session in July 2007, they decided to develop the project further to create an album using Kerouac's own words from the book as the lyrics.