Don't fence him in
By Jane Ganahl
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Sunday, February 28, 1999
©1999 San Francisco Examiner
URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/27/Stweedy28.dtl&type=music
Jeff Tweedy isn't country, or punk, or folk -- except on the days that he is
Jeff Tweedy is a tough man to pigeonhole. Insurgent country crooner, punk rocker,
musicologist, folk hero, poet, guitarist.
Ever since his days as the teen star of the seminal, now defunct "alt-country" outfit
Uncle Tupelo ('90s rock meets hick tunes), the 31-year-old Midwesterner has shifted
genres like a master.
It all depends on what music he's making that day.
Last year alone, the hyperactive Tweedy recorded albums with his current band, Wilco
("Summer Teeth," due out March 9); and his just-for-fun side project Golden Smog, an
underground supergroup that sold out Slim's last month, comprising members of other
Chicago-area bands like Soul Asylum and The Jayhawks.
And he promoted the release of a third album: the Grammy-nominated, much-heralded
"Mermaid Avenue" -- a collaboration between Wilco, English political folksinger Billy
Bragg and the late Woody Guthrie, whose long-lost lyrics were resurrected with music
composed by Tweedy and Bragg.
Tweedy's dexterity -- an effortless ability to hop-scotch between projects that always
seem to turn out fabulously -- has led the music media to dub him a "visionary." But
the gravel-voiced, prickly Tweedy, in town recently with Golden Smog, is the first to
say nah, he's "just f---ing around."
Q: Do you ever sit down and rest? I saw you last year with Billy Bragg, Golden Smog
AND Wilco.
A: I stay busy. I have to. I get better by staying at it. And I do sit down a lot more
than people think. This year we didn't tour that much, compared to recent years.
Q: Is your son Spencer one reason?
A: He's 3 now, and he's amazing -- talking, saying everything. But it wasn't because
of him that we didn't tour as much. "Mermaid Avenue" just didn't lend itself well to a
full-blown tour. It was too hard to get everyone together. But we did play several
songs from it during our Wilco shows.
Q: It was nominated for a Contemporary Folk Album Grammy ...
Q: Yeah, as proud as we are of it, we were pretty shocked it was nominated. It's
exciting and kind of surreal. But I think Lucinda Williams will win it. (She did.) If
we did win, I figure Billy will accept and probably give a really long speech.
(laughs)
Q: "Mermaid Avenue" made a lot of top 10 lists, but how did it sell?
A: It's not the best-selling Wilco album, but it might be the biggest selling Billy
Bragg record ever in the States. In fact, I saw an ad in a British magazine saying,
"Buy the record that is breaking Billy Bragg in the States!" I wonder if Wilco had
anything to do with that?! Sorry, a little ego happening here.
Q: Did ego get in the way during its creation?
A: (hesitates) Well, it's all about perspective. We knew we came into it much later
than Billy, but we also had our own vision of it. Billy was really gracious at first
in accepting that a certain amount of his vision would not be intact at the end of the
day. But it reached a point where he became sort of territorial. That's
understandable, and I can't argue with how it turned out, but there's a part of me
that thinks it could have been better.
Q: When we spoke before of "Summer Teeth," you said it would have no twang at all, and
it doesn't. What do you call your style now?
A: I would say ... postmodern bubble-gum? (laughs) I have no idea.
Q: You're gonna be asked this a lot, since "Summer Teeth" sounds so different from
your other work.
A: But I don't have to answer. It's just what Wilco sounds like NOW. It's just how our
vision has progressed, for musical reasons.
Q: And personal reasons? This record has a much darker feel. I listen to lines like "I
dreamed about killing you last night" and want to ask if everything is OK at home?
A: Yeah things are fine. Look, these are stories. I know some songs will be
misinterpreted. I just look for things that seem honest and direct and hard to sing.
Q: Because you want to challenge yourself?
A: Because I want to FEEL something. And these days, it takes a pretty extreme lyric
-- whether it's rooted in something that happened to me or not -- to make me feel. The
less something sounds like ME, the more compelled I am to explore it. Like visiting
two sides of an argument.
Q: Okay. I'll write this: "News Flash -- Jeff Tweedy does not want to kill his wife."
A: (laughs) I'm not saying that either. I DO want to kill my wife! But seriously,
these are the things that provoke images of passion. I'm always interested in those
things.
Q: You've been called visionary. Do you aim to push the envelope or just go on
instinct?
A: The seed of "Being There" (Wilco's most recent album) was a certain amount of anger
over being cornered, pigeonholed, by our country roots. It almost sounds petty, but as
a band we wanted to say this isn't us anymore. This record was not a conscious pushing
of the envelope; there just weren't any songs recorded that had a country or folk
slant. And even if we had that itch, doing "Mermaid Avenue" scratched it.
Q: It sounds like you're happiest when challenging yourself.
A: The most exciting thing in the world is to sound new and different, to hear
yourself come back out of the speakers and say wow, that's new. In any art, I think
divorcing yourself from an authoritative position can lead to better creativity.
Q: Is there an underlying theme to the record?
A: I find it easier to finish something if there's a focus. Like taking random stories
or references and arranging them so they have an effect. There is a lyrical focus --
basic issues like love and relationships -- but not in terms of a story. No secrets of
life, just the idea that love can be both dark and terrible, and the most glorious
thing ever.
Q: You still get asked about being in Uncle Tupelo?
A: (sighs) All the time. There is still a really devoted cultish following. But I
think I'm handling it better now.
Q: You've achieved icon status. When you're on stage in Golden Smog, people scream
"Tweedy!"
A: Yeah, it's nice to be singled out, but it's also embarrassing. It's become a joke
with everyone in the Smog. It's actually more embarrassing with Wilco, because we're
supposed to be more of a band.
Q: Do you think Golden Smog could be like Crosby Stills & Nash? Where people say,
"Wow, didn't that Tweedy guy used to be in Wilco?" A: It could happen!
