Son Volt’s Jay Farrar promises a concert with an electric feel

Jay Farrar helped define a musical genre.

Farrar was a member of Uncle Tupelo along with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. That group is widely credited with creating the first alt-country album, 1990’s “No Depression.” The genre mixes elements of punk and rock with American country music.

After the band’s breakup, Farrar continued to push the genre further, forming Son Volt.

On tour to support a new album, Son Volt makes a stop Monday at Slowdown.

The album, “American Central Dust,” will be released Tuesday. Among its songs are “Sultana” (a ship he calls “the Titanic of the cruel Mississippi”) and “Cocaine and Ashes” (“my tribute to Keith Richards”).

“I was moved by (Richards’) comment mixing cocaine with his dad’s ashes. That was his way of paying tribute to his father,” Farrar said. “I just thought that it was a very honest statement. It kind of moved me to write the song.”

Although that song has a central story and structure, Farrar usually writes with a more stream-of-consciousness style.

“It’s more like working backwards where you’re trying to make a structure out of raw ideas,” Farrar said. “I thought that way of writing would perhaps make the writing be more individualistic and sound less like someone else.”

Farrar wanted a more “fundamental aesthetic” for the new album, meaning fewer instruments and less experimentation while recording. The album was recorded live in the studio with the band doing as few takes and overdubs as possible. Also, nearly every song on the album is based around the strumming of an acoustic guitar.

“There’s a spontaneity and energy there, which occurs when you’re playing live. Somehow it gets lost when recordings are built piece by piece,” Farrar said. “Although we use overdubs when it would be beneficial to the song, we take more of a Rolling Stones approach to recording. We do a lot live and add elements along the way.”

Admitting that he misses his electric guitar, Farrar said some songs on the album will sound completely different during Son Volt’s live show. He might group a few acoustic songs together, he said, but he’ll spend the majority of the set with an electric guitar slung over his shoulder.

The band’s set will comprise a sampling of songs from its albums and even a song from Uncle Tupelo.

“I’m looking forward to playing live. I get to play electric guitar,” Farrar said with a laugh.

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