Jay Farrar - Stone, Steel & Bright Lights

Jay Farrar's career after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo has been dogged by two consistent creative gremlins -- a seeming inability to write songs with the same strength and emotional impact as his earlier work, and a frequent lack of worthy collaborators. However, anyone who has seen Farrar live since the release of Sebastopol can tell you the man has been in excellent form on-stage, as confident and engaged as he's ever been (occasionally even smiling and talking to the audience, rare events during his Son Volt gigs), and 2004's Stone, Steel & Bright Lights finds him sounding sharp, enthusiastic, and fully committed on a well-chosen set of post-Son Volt compositions recorded in concert. Read More