Son Volt’s Jay Farrar – HuffPost 10.21.09

[Note: This is a piece of an interview with Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard on their Jack Kerousac project One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur. It’s presented here because it gives a little insight into what artists do when they collaborate.]

Mike Ragogna: How did your collaboration begin?

Jay Farrar: Ben and I were asked to contribute songs to the documentary One Fast Move Or I’m Gone. I think it was from my familiarity with Kerouac’s work and just getting caught up in the spirit of it, I brought ten songs instead of two or three. Originally, (Ben) was just supposed to record a couple songs, but when we met up at the session, it became apparent that it could become a whole record.

MR: How did you decide who would sing lead on what?

JF: I tried to kind of direct the songs that might have been more suited for Ben’s voice or mine, and I kept the blues songs as opposed to having Ben do them. It seemed pretty straightforward, really, as to which songs would work for which vocalist, and it was great to work with Ben. He’s a top shelf musician. I don’t think I ever heard him sing off pitch, and he was the drummer for the project as well. It was halfway into the project when I started calling around for drummers, and Ben just casually mentioned, “Well, I play drums.”