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Jay Farrar

World Cafe Looks Back: Uncle Tupelo's Family Tree

Uncle Tupelo at the Sapphire Supper Club in Orlando, Fla. Jeff Tweedy (second from left) went on to form Wilco, while Jay Farrar (second from right) created Son Volt.

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Jim Leatherman

World Cafe

World Cafe Looks Back: Uncle Tupelo's Family Tree

XPN

The extraordinary and influential alt-country group was a standard-bearer for the genre, and later spawned Wilco and Son Volt after it broke up in the mid-'90s.

World Cafe Looks Back: Uncle Tupelo's Family Tree

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New Multitudes On World Cafe

Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker Needle, and Yim Yames make up New Multitudes. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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World Cafe

New Multitudes On World Cafe

Formed in honor of Woody Guthrie, the folk supergroup (Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Jim James) performs songs arranged from Guthrie's unpublished lyrics and musings.

New Multitudes On World Cafe

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Ben Gibbard And Jay Farrar: Kerouac In Song

Benjamin Gibbard and Jay Farrar. Autumn de Wilde/Shore Fire Media hide caption

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Autumn de Wilde/Shore Fire Media

World Cafe

Ben Gibbard And Jay Farrar: Kerouac In Song

XPN

What happens when two of the biggest driving forces in indie rock collaborate on album based on Jack Kerouac's beat poetry? The answer: 12 rapturous Americana songs recorded by Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) and Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo), titled One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur.

Ben Gibbard And Jay Farrar: Kerouac In Song

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Gibbard And Farrar Take On Kerouac's 'Big Sur'

Jay Farrar (right) says 90 percent of the words recorded on One Fast Move or I'm Gone with Benjamin Gibbard come straight from Jack Kerouac. Sonari Glinton/NPR hide caption

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Sonari Glinton/NPR

Music Interviews

Gibbard And Farrar Take On Kerouac's 'Big Sur'

An unlikely pair has come together to interpret the words and atmosphere of Jack Kerouac's autobiographical novel. Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) and Jay Farrar (of Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo) have both found inspiration in Kerouac's prose, creating a song cycle with country tinges.

Gibbard And Farrar Take On Kerouac's 'Big Sur'

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Fall Music Preview

All Songs Considered

Fall Music Preview

On this All Songs we spin some of the albums we're most looking forward to coming out this fall. Hear previews from The Flaming Lips, choral versions of classic Kinks songs, The Swell Season and more.

Fall Music Preview

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