Two Guys, One Tour, Four Cities

But not just two ordinary guys. Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard will do four special concerts performing their collaborative work honoring Beat Generation pioneer Jack Kerouac.

Farrar and Gibbard’s album – One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur – consists of 12 original songs with lyrics based on prose from Kerouac’s 1962 novel Big Sur. The album drops Oct. 20.

Photo: Autumn De Wilde

Coinciding with album’s release will be a documentary film of the same name featuring appearances by musicians as well as actors, poets and writers including Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Sam Shepard and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The album and movie will be released as standalone packages, a CD/DVD package and a limited boxed set bundled with Kerouac’s book, a 24-page book about the documentary and, of course, the CD and DVD.

The tour consists of four stops – Los Angeles at the El Rey Theatre Oct. 23; San Francisco at Bimbo’s 365 Club Oct. 24; Chicago at Lincoln Hall Oct. 26 and New York at Webster Hall Oct. 28.

Tickets for Los Angeles and San Francisco shows go on sale Sept. 16, New York on Sept. 18 and Chicago on Sept. 25.

With Farrar being a veteran of two great bands – Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt – and Gibbard being the frontman for Death Cab For Cutie, both musicians have a wealth of musical connections to build a band for this tour. Joining them will be Death Cab’s Nick Harmer, Son Volt’s Mark Spencer and Jon Wurster, whose credits include Superchunk, Bob Mould and The Mountain Goats.

For more information on this special project, please click here for the Kerouac Films Web site.