Jay Farrar - Terroir Blues

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Music reviews of Terroir Blues

Music Review: My Album Of The Year So Far
Rating: 5 Stars

This album is a collection of songs Farrar wrote around the time his father was dying. The lyrics deal with pain, loss, cherishing the past and looking toward the future. And as with most of Farrar's work, a look at the American landscape, both it's beauty and bleakness, as only he can. Musically, most of the songs feature Farrar's acoustic guitar strumming, accented by Mark Spencer and Eric Heywood's slide guitar and lap steel. There's a beautiful piano based song about Farrar's father called "Dent County." One song features a cello, another a flute, each winding its way alongside Farrar's guitar and incomparable voice. "Fool King's Crown" features a funky electric slide sitar. The album also has 6 short electronic interludes Farrar calls Space Junk that help shape the album. At worst, the space junk doesn't bother you and is over before you know it. But I think it breaks up and adds to the album nicely and keeps a solid flow all the way through.

The songs on Terroir Blues are not feel good country rock. But they have great hooks and melodies all the same, and finely crafted tunes. Terroir Blues grabs you at first listen and gets better and better the more you play it. It's an album that demands to be heard on a good set of headphones.

I have to laugh at a couple of the reviews I've seen posted here so far. Someone who says to be a longtime fan of Farrar's work says Jay has hit rock bottom with this one. There seems to be a few old Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt fans who don't want to hear anything from Jay that's not exactly like his great work with those bands. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but to give this album 2 stars and to say Farrar has hit rock bottom is a joke. It's a great album. I like it as much as Son Volt's "Trace."

And another reviewer complains that he looked up the word "Terroir" in the American Heritage dictionary and can't find it. Terroir is a French word that is not easily defined but a fairly close definition is the delicate balance between nature and man. That's much of what the album is about. This is music that hits you hard, touches your soul and makes you think.

Near the end of the album there are 4 alternate takes of songs heard earlier. To me, this is just a great bonus. Instead of having to find these takes on a B-side or on the Internet, they're right there on the album to do what you want with.

The worst I've heard about this album from anyone without an agenda is that they either liked it but didn't love it at first - or that they didn't know what to make of it all at first listen - but that it's the kind of album that makes you want to spin it again and the more you listen to it, the better it gets. I agree it gets better with each listen, but it grabbed me right away.

Comparisons between Farrar and his former partner in Uncle Tupelo, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, are getting old and tiresome. The only comparison worth mentioning anymore is that both are responsible for some of the best American music the last dozen years or so. Bottom line, if you like Farrar's work in Tupelo or Son Volt, you should get Terroir Blues.

Description of Terroir Blues

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Country
• Folk
• Pop
• Rock