Jay Farrar, Terroir Blues

That’s not a typo—terroir is a French term roughly meaning “soil” that has less to do with the current geopolitical bugbear than Farrar’s ongoing fascination with American culture and traditions. A song cycle about Farrar’s new hometown of St. Louis, it’s a solid piece of work that builds well on his earlier solo records and full-band alt-country projects with Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. Terroir filters his trademark folk-twang sound through the blues, French and Indian influences of his Missourian city. As you might expect, it’s ruminative and melancholy—more than usual, in fact, since some of the songs here find Farrar working through the recent death of his father.