Jay Farrar
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"Jay Farrar" is an American songwriter and musician currently based in St. Louis, Missouri. A veteran of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001. Beyond his established talents as a songwriter, he is a guitarist, pianist, harmonicist, and a vocalist.

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There's an immediacy and a starkness that's there. I think a lot of Leadbelly's arrangements and his use of the 12-string guitar were atypical, especially the 12-string, which showed his individuality. I guess he approached it that way because the 12-string was louder. Leadbelly and the punk rock aesthetic - maybe there are some similarities there.

You're sort of shaped by your environment in a way.

Woody has always been a reference point for me, as well a source of inspiration along the way. I was brought up around his music at a pretty early age, ... The reference in the song relates more to the way my own children have become fans, I guess (laughs). If there was no Highway 61, we may not have had Bob Dylan or Leadbelly .

Whenever I get a chance, I still find a song I can still relate to. I was in my early 20s when (the Uncle Tupelo) songs were written. As the years go by, it gets a little harder to relate to songs that were written so long ago.

I'm glad we were able to do that [tribute] for Alejandro. That's sort of a last positive effort that we all contributed to. I think it was just a good way to go out.

I think I just sort of felt like with the original incarnation of Son Volt we'd hit a wall, ... I didn't want to necessarily be the person who had to crack the whip to try to push people in a certain direction that they didn't want to go.

Serves as a sort of inspirational character or a point of reference when thinking about topical issues. He had a willingness to take social injustice head-on and write about it.

But at this point it seems kind of inevitable or unstoppable.