Once there was an alt-country band, Uncle Tupelo, and they were OK. The alt-country outfit didn't win any Grammy Awards or record any Top 40 hits, but they rocked and twanged pretty hard for the better part of eight years between 1987 and 1994.
After the band broke up, members went their separate ways.
Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn formed Wilco, which won a Grammy in 2004 for "A Ghost Is Born." The band is alternately referred to as "the American Radiohead," and "America's foremost rock impressionists" and played a concert at Centennial Hall last month.
Jay Farrar formed Son Volt, which showed its country roots on its excellent debut album, "Trace," featuring the standout track "Windfall." The band later released the albums "Straightaways" and "Wide Swing Tremolo," plus a 2005 retrospective.
Son Volt just released a new album, "American Central Dust," and they'll play a show with Cowboy Junkies at The Rialto Theatre on Sunday.
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Farrar recently talked to Caliente by phone about music, the Midwest and beer.
Where are you right now?
"In St. Louis. Getting ready for the tour to start and the record coming out July 7. We're getting into rehearsals. I live here. Everyone else is spread around the country. Austin, Boston and Brooklyn."
What is St. Louis like? Is it a strong influence on your songwriting?
"It's kind of a city that has an older character to it. Have you ever been to Philadelphia or Baltimore? It's basically like an amalgam of that, and a Midwestern feel. If you took Philadelphia and plopped it down in the Midwest, that's probably what you'd get with St. Louis."
But probably less booing and fewer "Yo's," right?
"St. Louisans can be painfully polite. If 10 cars are in a left-turn lane and the lead car doesn't want to go, no one will honk. Except me."
You stick with acoustic guitar on "American Central Dust." How come?
"I've always felt like the best course to chart was to follow wherever inspiration goes. This time around I felt like a more austere approach might be best. Me playing just acoustic guitar on this record helped alleviate some of the internal schizophrenia that I feel when I'm jumping back and forth between electric and acoustic."
What do you eat when you're on the road?
"Actually nobody eats much anymore. I rode a cab with a guy who used to be in Buddy Rich's band once. He said he used to try and find the best Chinese restaurant in every town he went to. I tried that for a while, but then you find out that that stuff will turn you into the Buddha before long. So, yeah, that's always the eternal question. What do we eat?"
What's your favorite beer?
"It was a Ukrainian beer that I came across recently. Obolon. I'd never really had anything else like it, and it comes in a large bottle. It's hard to find, though. St. Louis has its own beer here called Schlafly that's pretty good."
You have a daughter, 10, and a son, 7. Do they like Son Volt's music?
"At various times they've been into it and they've liked it. I think they're sort of ambivalent about it at the moment. They're listening to Green Day. That's the band du jour. Over the years, I was into a lot of the same stuff they are. The Clash. Sex Pistols. Stuff like that. I tried to point out some of the similarities between those bands and Green Day, to say if you like this you might like this. But it didn't go over too well. Maybe that will change with time. But I think there's a generational barrier right now."
If you go
• What: Son Volt and Cowboy Junkies in concert.
• Where: The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.
• When: 8 p.m. Sunday.
• Cost: General admission is $27 in advance, $31 on the day of the show. Reserved balcony seats are $31 in advance, $32 day of the show.
