Photo by Autumn de Wilde
Sukierae, the first album from Jeff Tweedy’s new project with his son Spencer, isn’t exactly the Wilco frontman’s solo debut. But it’s about as close as he’s gotten so far—the project is using the moniker Tweedy, after all. But even if he’s hedged his bets on a solo career, the songwriter has taken part in plenty of extracurricular activities away from Wilco over the years. Here are a few high points.
Golden Smog: "Please Tell My Brother"
Tweedy joined up with this midwestern supergroup (the post-Replacements Traveling Wilburies?) just following Uncle Tupelo’s demise in 1994. Featuring (at various times) members of Soul Asylum, the Jayhawks, Run Westy Run and Big Star, Golden Smog is a loose affair, both in its revolving door lineup and its ramshackle, anything goes approach to songwriting and recording. In 1998, Tweedy snuck one of his most heartrending ballads onto the group’s sophomore effort, Weird Tales. A plaintive solo number that sounds as old as the hills, “Please Tell My Brother” is a buried treasures in the songwriter’s oeuvre.
Jeff Tweedy & Glenn Kotche: "End Credits"
Ethan Hawke’s 2001 directorial debut, Chelsea Walls, is perhaps best left forgotten. But the evocative soundtrack Tweedy put together with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche is worth discovering. With luminous soundscapes that hint at the direction Wilco would take on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and lovely, almost John Fahey-esque acoustic interludes, Tweedy and Kotche easily outclass Hawke’s misbegotten film. Obviously, the pair have gone on to make several albums together in Wilco and Loose Fur (see below) since, but it’s a bit of a shame they haven’t explored this type of abstract instrumental music further.
Loose Fur: "Laminated Cat"
One of the closest sonic analogues to the Chelsea Walls soundtrack was Jim O’Rourke’s masterful Bad Timing, a 1997 LP which Tweedy said “ended up blowing my mind more than just about any album I’d heard in the last five years.” The pair became fast friends and collaborators in the early 2000s. O’Rourke worked on Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, while Tweedy and Kotche contributed to O’Rourke’s Insignificance. Tweedy, O’Rourke and Kotche also somehow found the time to record two solid albums under the moniker Loose Fur, each one nicely blending the classic rock leanings of Tweedy’s main gig with O’Rourke’s more experimental bent. One song from the band’s debut, the propulsive “Laminated Cat” (AKA “Not For The Season”), was too good to leave in side project limbo. It’s a powerhouse mainstay of Wilco’s set to this day.
Mavis Staples: "You Are Not Alone"
In recent years, Tweedy has tried his hand at producing other artists, most notably Low on their 2013 album, The Invisible Way, and Mavis Staples on 2010’s You Are Not Alone and 2013’s One True Vine. Tweedy’s presence on Invisible Way is generally muted; on the two Staples LPs, he’s all over the place, contributing guitar, backup vocals and original songs to the proceedings. Not to say he steals the spotlight from the gospel/R&B legend—he probably couldn’t if he tried. But he does provide the singer with a sensitive, classic-sounding backdrop that’s reverent without being boring. As a result, the 70-something Staples’ unmistakable vocals sound positively vibrant. A highlight is You Are Not Alone’s wrenching title track, a Tweedy original.
"Portlandia"
Tweedy and comedian Fred Armisen go way back—you can see a pre-SNL Armisen opening a 2001 Tweedy solo show in the Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. In 2014, the songwriter tested out his comedy chops on the latest season of Portlandia, Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s hipster-skewering IFC series. In the sketch, a befuddled Tweedy is given in-studio songwriting advice (and some lessons on alt-country authenticity) by his producers, played by Armisen and Brownstein. “Are your family Okies?” Brownstein inquires skeptically when Tweedy sings of a “dusty heart on a broken road.” “Did they experience the Dust Bowl?” “No, they were like upper management,” Tweedy mumbles. It looks as though Tweedy has caught the comedy bug—he also appeared alongside Amy Poehler and Chris Pratt on Parks and Recreation this year.