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His latest project is \u201cTwilight Override,\u201d a sprawling if homespun triple album under his own name with no fewer than 30 songs about love, travel, music, family and childhood. Tweedy cut the record at Wilco\u2019s longtime Windy City headquarters, the Loft, with a band comprising Spencer, 30, and Sammy, 26, along with Sima Cunningham, Liam Kazar and Macie Stewart; this weekend he\u2019ll bring those players to Los Angeles for a concert Friday night at the Belasco and another Saturday night at the United Theater on Broadway.<\/p>\n
To talk about it, I met up with Tweedy in January when he was in town for his annual solo engagement at Largo at the Coronet, where he\u2019s been coming for years to try out new material and tell stories (and jokes) about the old hits.<\/p>\n
Does Tweedy, the devoted Chicagoan, like L.A.?<\/p>\n
\u201cI like everywhere except for Indianapolis,\u201d he said before one of the Largo gigs. Seated backstage in a small dressing room, Tweedy grinned beneath a mop of fuzzy hair. \u201cIndianapolis is fine. But I don\u2019t trust myself to judge any city, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we spoke, Spencer entered the room with a four-pack of Ardor cans, which Tweedy tucked into a cooler bag by his side. \u201cThis is really embarrassing \u2014 my decadent rock and roll lifestyle with the artisanal energy drink,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t drink coffee, but I like caffeine. And I like being able to make sure it\u2019s the same amount because I have anxiety disorder and I know how much I can handle.\u201d<\/p>\n
I caught your show the other night and was struck by how natural you seemed by yourself onstage. When in your career would you say you attained that ease?
I think the ease you\u2019re referring to is just a comfort with being uneasy. And I think that happened when it became easier to acknowledge that I\u2019m awkward. I\u2019m not David Lee Roth, although I\u2019d love to be.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s never too late.
It\u2019s too late for him.<\/p>\n
Not true, actually. Look up some recent clips on YouTube.
Yeah? Honest to God, he\u2019s like a weird hero to me. I\u2019m not sure I could vouch for it if I dug deep into his personal beliefs or anything like that. But the confidence level and the purpose of mission \u2014 it\u2019s so clear. I love that.<\/p>\n
So you\u2019ve grown comfortable with being uncomfortable. But you must recognize that you\u2019ve honed your timing. You know when to bring it up and when to bring it down.
I\u2019ve done a lot of solo acoustic shows. And I\u2019ve done a lot of shows that are even more nerve-racking than a solo acoustic show, and that\u2019s living room shows. Over the last 20-something years, I\u2019ve done dozens and dozens of those for charity in Chicago \u2014 30 people, 30 songs, they each get a request. And they weren\u2019t always 30 rabid fans. A lot of cases it would be 10 rabid fans \u2014 friends of the rich guy \u2014 then 20 other people that are on the guest list or they\u2019re family or they\u2019re neighbors.<\/p>\n
I think a moment of transition for me was when I put together that the people in the audience I thought were judging me were the people most like me. In fact, an audience completely made up of people with my disposition would be silence.<\/p>\n
Your wife\u2019s comic timing might be even better than yours. When you asked if she had any requests, her \u201cNo\u201d from the crowd was perfect.
She\u2019s the funniest person I know. During those benefit shows, I used to put my phone on the table and she would text me during the show \u2014 like, \u201cWhy are you playing all the saddest songs in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n
On the topic of rabid fans: I listened to an episode of \u201cWilco the Podcast\u201d \u2014 these guys are deep in the lore. Do you have a clear sense of when you became a musician with that type of following?
I\u2019ve accepted that it\u2019s a fact, but I have trouble looking that fact squarely in the eye. The thing that got me closer to being comfortable with the notion of having fans was the pandemic, when we were doing \u201cThe Tweedy Show\u201d on a nightly basis. I thought that was a moment where people were gonna grasp how connected we are \u2014 no stages, no hierarchy, we\u2019re all enduring this thing. When we canceled tour dates at the very beginning of it, people were so sad, and my wife\u2019s intuition was like, \u201cYou should let them know you\u2019re OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
I guess what I\u2019m getting at is: It didn\u2019t feel exalted, but I felt purpose and that it was OK to have some responsibility \u2014 like a pastor with a congregation. It turned what is a parasocial relationship into something slightly more real.<\/p>\n
Five or six years on, has any aspect of that endured?
I think it has a lot, because I got to be seen \u2014 that\u2019s the part that was eye-opening to me. One of the reasons it\u2019s hard to accept fandom is because it\u2019s not you \u2014 it\u2019s your art, it\u2019s the persona that\u2019s been projected on you, a persona you\u2019ve curated for yourself, wittingly or unwittingly. But [\u201cThe Tweedy Show\u201d] was an acceptance of our flaws. I don\u2019t worry now about sharing too much.<\/p>\n
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Jeff Tweedy, in white shirt, with his road band: Macie Stewart, from left, Sima Cunningham, Liam Kazar, Spencer Tweedy and Sammy Tweedy.<\/p>\n
(Rachel Bartz)<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve suggested that \u201cTwilight Override\u201d embodies hope at a dark moment. But not everybody thinks this is a dark moment. Folks in the MAGA world have described a new age of American glory.
They sure complain a lot for thinking it\u2019s a glory time. I don\u2019t even see Trump doing that \u2014 I see him saying, \u201cThese people are the worst,\u201d and talking about how nothing is right and they\u2019ve been given such an unfair deal. They\u2019re the whiniest motherf\u2014 I\u2019ve ever seen in my life. There\u2019s no doubt that there\u2019s a handful of very rich people that think this is the greatest thing that\u2019s ever happened. And I don\u2019t give a f\u2014 what they think because they don\u2019t have skin in the game. I have to respect that at some level I can\u2019t know them \u2014 I only have the information I have to go on. But it appears obscene.<\/p>\n
When was the last time people didn\u2019t think everything was terrible?
Every generation has thought it was the end of the world, and at some point one of the generations is gonna be right.<\/p>\n
You worked with your sons on this record. Is there anything about their musicianship that you had to warm up to?
No. But I don\u2019t think I come at other musicians like that \u2014 like I\u2019ve cornered the market on the right way to do something. \u201cThese kids don\u2019t know where real rock and roll comes from\u201d \u2014 I don\u2019t have that. I\u2019ve tried really hard not to surrender to nostalgia.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an active effort on your part.
It\u2019s not a hard-and-fast rule because that would be wrong too. I think it\u2019s OK for me to get comfort from a Creedence Clearwater Revival<\/a> record. But I also think it would be wrong for me to judge that record as superior to a record from today.<\/p>\n
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