Jay Farrar

St. Louis is home to the two finest rock & roll songwriters of their respective generations: Chuck Berry and Jay Farrar. Both are enigmas, as they should be, but the former relishes the fame he deserves, while the latter retires from it, preferring the attention of muse, music and family. Farrar has taken up the pedal steel of late, and he's not bad for a greenhorn, but he also recently released (with Ben Gibbard) a CD of songs inspired by Jack Kerouac and Big Sur that display his resilient and resourceful powers of language, melody and ideas. What he'll do next is anyone's guess, but never count out a dedicated, patient artist like Farrar, and don't even think about missing a rare solo club date in his hometown.