If, for some odd reason, we were asked to pair any one musician or group with our Jus Soli wines, Jay Farrar’s name would undoubtedly appear on the short list as many of us are huge Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt and solo Jay fans. In fact, most of us went together to Jay’s recent Santa Rosa show in support of his second solo album “Terroir Blues”.

That’s right, terroir, the French winemaking term used for describing the overall effect on wines of the soil and microclimate in which the grapes were grown, as part of the album title of one of our favorite artists. And this on the heels of a debut solo album called “Sebastopol”, which just happens to be the name of a town right here in our home county (never mind that Jay knows it as the name of an old blues tuning).

Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, important winemaking term and town in our county known for it’s apple orchards and progressive politics? Consider the deal done. Let it be known to all other producers of wine henceforth from this 20th day of August 2004, Jay is our guy. Jay Farrar, the unofficial musical representative of Jus Soli wines.

Seems Jay came across the concept of terroir while reading an article on winemaking in the Atlantic Monthly. In his own words, “I sort of took liberties and used it to describe the making of music as opposed to the making of wine. I feel there needs to be a word that aptly describes the sense of place and environment that goes into making music.”

Which is especially interesting to us since while selecting our winery name, we took the liberty of applying the concept of terroir to ourselves in addition to our wines. For we are who we are individually and collectively because of the particular mix of land, people and overall “climate” of the place we call home. To us, Jus Soli or Law of the Soil, primarily means acknowledging our shared roots in this great place where we live, work and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Often with Jay Farrar’s music playing in the background. Making him a component of our terroir as well, right?

Bringing us from wine to music and back again.

For the uninitiated, Jay’s latest “Stone Steel and Bright Lights” would be an excellent starting point and can be purchased at his website (www.jayfarrar.net). It’s a live album recorded during his “Terroir Blues” tour with the five-piece band Canyon backing him. Or if stripped down acoustic music is more your cup of tea, then consider “Live in Seattle” recorded on 7/24/03 (available as a download from his site). Then complete your collection with all his Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt and solo efforts. And don’t forget to drink Jus Soli wines to enhance your listening pleasure!

Note:  Part of the massive ongoing archival project of Jus Soli the website 1.0

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Web Archive of Jus Soli 1.0, Why? Because We Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.