As the frontman of Wilco, Jeff Tweedy is one of the most respected figures in indie rock. But his career goes beyond that band: A founding member of the seminal alternative country-rock band Uncle Tupelo, he’s made solo records and an album with one of his sons; produced for artists like Mavis Staples and Rodney Crowell; written two memoirs (Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) and World Within a Song), a book on songwriting (How to Write One Song), and a collection of poetry (Adult Head); and played in the supergroups Golden Smog and Loose Fur (one of their songs, “The Ruling Class,” was included in the encore).
His appearance at the Lincoln Theatre was the first of two nights in DC, with a show the following evening at the 9:30 Club.
Born in Belleville, Illinois, a working-class, industrial town across the border from St. Louis, Missouri, Tweedy is associated with Chicago, which has been his home for several decades, and where he is a major figure in that city’s music scene. This tour is something of a family affair for Jeff, who has known everyone in his band “since they were little kids.” Two of them are literal family: his sons Sammy and Spencer. Jeff mentioned that Sammy has a record coming out soon — one that he’s been working on for seven years.
Ever prolific, Jeff released a solo triple album, Twilight Override, earlier this year, and songs from that album dominated the set at the Lincoln Theatre on Oct. 27. He kicked things off with the first track from Disc 2, “KC Rain (No Wonder),” followed by “Betrayed,” then the first four songs from Disc 1: “One Tiny Flower,” “Caught Up in the Past,” “Parking Lot,” with its spoken-word delivery, and “Forever Never Ends.” There’s a sense of place to many of these songs: “Stray Cats in Spain” is, unsurprisingly, about seeing the rockabilly revival band in that country, while “New Orleans” takes place in that legendary city, and “Western Clear Skies” is a paean to that great American vista. I hope “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” is meant figuratively because, as much I love his music, Lou doesn’t seem like someone who should be left with young children. Other songs from the album included the title track, which they played in their encore, “Forever Never Ends,” “Ain’t It a Shame,” “Mirror,” “Out in the Dark,” “Feel Free,” and “Enough,” which they finished with.
Watch Jeff Tweedy perform “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” live for The Late Show on YouTube:
The set also included several cuts from Sukierae, the album Jeff made with Spencer in 2014 under the highly appropriate moniker Tweedy: “Low Key,” “Flowering” (flowers, as one can see, are one of his favorite images/metaphors), “Diamond Light, Pt. 1,” and “World Away.” He introduced “Don’t Forget” from WARM as “another song about my dead dad.” After playing it, he told the audience how, the night before, someone had yelled “Fuck yeah!” for that song, “which scared the shit out of us.” If I hadn’t been at the back of the theater (you can say two things about Tweedy’s fans: They get there in plenty of time to see the opener, and there was more plaid flannel than I’ve ever seen in my life), I would’ve tried to suggest he make an album with Andrew Bird, which they could call Tweedy Bird.
We also got a handful of Jeff’s older songs: “Evergreen” and “Family Ghost” (in the encore) from Warmer, and “Half-Asleep” from Love Is the King closed out the main set.
Sima Cunningham, who also played in Tweedy’s band, opened the show. She started with “High Roller.” She wanted to dedicate “Your Bones” to “my two-year-old who’s backstage, but she’s more interested in mac and cheese.” I can relate, as I spent the next several minutes wondering where they got the mac and cheese, and if I could get some, too.
Watch the official music video for “Your Bones” by Sima Cunningham on YouTube:
“Both Ways,” which was written as duet, she likes “to call the ‘Mommy Blues.'” She introduced “Me Now (I Guess)” saying, “You seem like you have a good sense of humor, so I’m going to play a song I don’t play often.” “Nothing” was written for her late uncle, who couldn’t speak because of severe cerebral palsy. Sima shared the first song she’s written in three years and talked about how she’s been “compartmentalizing grief and this song let some of it out.” She finished with an old song, with a few words about how special DC’s punk tradition is to her.
I’d never seen Sima before, and I really enjoyed her stuff. As much as I admire Jeff’s work, this was only the second time I’ve seen him play. The first was the summer before last when Wilco was at Wolf Trap. As a solo performance, this show included entirely different material, making it especially exciting.
