Earlier this year Farrar embarked on a mini-tour of the U.S., road testing material for his new album. Sebastopol, Farrar’s first solo record, is set for release September 25 and features a little help from Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Kelly Joe Phelps, Matt Pence, Tom Ray, Steven Drodze of the Flaming Lips, and Jon Wurster of Superchunk.

With Farrar’s solo activities in full swing, it’s natural to question the status of Son Volt, his band since the demise of Uncle Tupelo. The band is by all accounts still together but are not active at this time. Son Volt’s last album, Wide Swing Tremolo, came out in 1998.

Known best for his involvement with two important bands, Farrar has been one of the more prominent players in the Americana/alt.country movement.

He co-founded Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy in 1990 – a band that was labeled as the revivalists of “no depression” music (a term coined from a 1930’s Carter Family recording titled “No Depression In Heaven.”).

When the band split up in 1994, Tweedy and bandmates Ken Coomer, Max Johnston and John Stirrat went on to start Wilco, while Farrar formed Son Volt with one-time Uncle Tupelo drummer Mike Heidorn, and versatile brothers Jim and Dave Boquist.