Jay Farrar, Boxcar Guitars, the Secateurs at the Kings Arms

By RUSSELL BAILLIE


Jay Farrar is a man who saves his best conversation for his songs.

If the American altcountry luminary said anything other than a cursory "hello" at the beginning and a "thanks" at the end, then it left no lasting impression on this opening night of his first New Zealand-Australian tour.

If Farrar was the antishowman, his set was still gently persuasive.

It managed a dreamy temperament throughout, care of his distinctive voice - sort of lower-register Michael Stipe before the elocution lessons - singing his abstract lyrics that seem to be part heartbreak, part landscape.

His songs were quite the conceptual American tiki tour, whether it was the Texas to Nevada roadtrip of Barstow, the United States West Coast geography essay of California, or the sense of Farrar's hometown St Louis in Cahokia or further down the Mississippi on Voodoo Candle.

Helping in the atmosphere department and giving the songs a dynamic kick was electric-guitar/lap steel sideman Mark Spencer, who pulled some evocative sounds from his interesting instrument, including a particularly searing lead break on Heart on The Ground.

With Farrar on ringing acoustic guitar, his set predictably concentrated mainly on material from the solo albums of his immediate past career rather than material from his influential early band, Uncle Tupelo, and subsequent outfit Son Volt.

But he saved the oldest number to last in the encore - it wasn't his but an ambitious reworking of the Beatles' psychedelic touchstone Tomorrow Never Knows.

Without its legendary drums it sounded a mite lopsided but perhaps showed where the real roots of this American roots revivalist lie.

Enjoyable, even if more a reminder of great values in music than a truly memorable performance.

In support, Boxcar Guitars were highly impressive with their twang'n'slide-happy country-rock that rides a fine line between burlesque and genuine enthusiasm, while frontman-guitarist Ben Maitland somehow manages to make the pompadour and bolo tie look cool all over again.

Acoustic duo the Secateurs had some shaky moments on their first outing but their solid songs and harmonies suggested a Jack Johnson-Lucinda Williams arranged marriage and they might go far.