Jay Farrar Sticks to the Same Moody Melodies

As cult heroes go, singer-songwriter Jay Farrar is pretty reliable. During his Knitting Factory performance Saturday, his current work proved cut from the same moody, bucolic cloth as the pioneering alt-country material he crafted with high school pal Jeff Tweedy in Uncle Tupelo and later as the leader of Son Volt.

With Son Volt on indefinite hiatus, Farrar released his solo debut, “Sebastopol,” last fall. The collection evoked his trademark Byrds/Neil Young-esque minor-key, alternately tuned, close-harmonized, guitar-based introspection.

But it also continued where Son Volt left off, adding instrumental colors and sonic effects to inject variety into his songs, which tend to return often to little-guy matters of work and love, while also ruminating on history and evoking a general sense of yearning.

The album does this in a pleasantly low-key fashion, thanks to subtle trip-hop-esque production elements and contributions from such guests as vocalist Gillian Welch, guitarist David Rawlings and the Flaming Lips’ Steven Drodze on keyboards.

But Farrar’s 90-plus-minute Saturday set, though certainly satisfying to the faithful, was not as successful. This was partly because Farrar was accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar and the versatile playing of guitarist-keyboardist Mark Spencer (formerly of Blood Oranges).

Indeed, Spencer’s inventive slide work and evocative lap-steel playing helped make the material about as interesting as it could have been.

The pair harmonized quite fetchingly, but although Farrar’s wry “Barstow” and exuberant, almost poppy “Voodoo Candle” stood out, too often his tunes struck similar emotional notes.

They mixed things up with outside selections, including Uncle Tupelo material, but even an encore rendition of the Beatles’ “Within You, Without You” offered only momentary respite from the drone.

Jay Farrar, with Brian Henneman, plays Tuesday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, 8 p.m. $15. (949) 496-8930.