Sunday, December 13, 2009

42.“Voodoo Candle” by Jay Farrar (2001)

An erstwhile member of the seminal alt-country group Uncle Tupelo, Mr. Farrar has become somewhat forgotten in many circles, as he’s been eclipsed in popularity by his old bandmate, Jeff Tweedy. “Eclipsed” maybe is not a fair word, as Tweedy and Farrar have always been going for different things with their music. But it’s fair to say that while a new Wilco album is met with cover stories and magazine spreads and a barrage of interviews and the like, Farrar is operating under the radar, playing to his strengths as a straight-ahead rock-country veteran and churning out solid, but untrendy songs album after album. “Voodoo Candle” is one of his tunes that does push his Uncle Tupelo template in another direction and while it’s not something that will garner the same critical praise, as say, Wilco’s “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, it is definitely a great tune that deserves some attention, or at least a listen.

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