Solo Victoria debut by preeminent voice of rock
IN CONCERT
What: Jeff Tweedy with James Elkington Where: Capital Ballroom, 858 Yates St. When: Friday, 7 p.m. (doors at 6:30) Tickets: Sold out
Jeff Tweedy has been tinkering with his artistic identity in recent years, bouncing from full-band efforts with his Chicago bandmates in Wilco to collaborations with everyone from his son, Spencer (in the rock band Tweedy), to soul legend Mavis Staples (with whom Tweedy has produced three records).
The twists continued this week with the announcement that Tweedy, 51, would be releasing WARM, his first solo album of original material, on Nov. 30. That will be preceded by his long-awaited memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc., on Nov. 13. The liner notes for WARM have been published in full in The New Yorker; coupled with the fact his memoir will be published by Random House, it’s clear the attention being paid to his work goes well beyond the confines of music.
Once a scrawny bass player who rarely sang, the shy Midwestern kid has become one of the preeminent voices of modern-day music. Documentaries have been made about Wilco and books have been written with Tweedy as a focal point, much to his reported chagrin. In 2004, he issued Adult Head, a book of poetry. Almost none of his output has been subjected to the scorn of his peers, or the press: Wilco has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning one in 2004 for best alternative album, while Tweedy earned a Grammy trophy on his own for his production work with Staples.
There is a Dylan-esque following that adores every move Tweedy makes, but unlike his hero and former tourmate, the singer-songwriter from Belleville, Illinois, always has the interests of his audience in mind. “Jeff told me once that what he’s trying to communicate to his listener is: ‘You’re O.K. You’re not alone. I’m singing to you, but I also hear you,’ ” wrote George Saunders in the liner notes to WARM.
“Jeff is, to my mind, a warrior for kindness, who has made tenderness an acceptable rock ’n’ roll virtue.”
Tweedy is currently on a solo tour of North America that stops on Friday at the Capital Ballroom in Victoria. The majority of dates on the run, including his Victoria concert, have been sold out for weeks, which isn’t surprising. Dating back to the mid-’90s, Tweedy solo shows have always been hot properties, despite often being sporadic and hastily organized. It wasn’t until a string of solo acoustic shows in 2016 and 2017 that he arranged his solo schedule in any sensible order.
The move paid dividends on several fronts. It was these solo outings of the past two years — while Wilco remains on an amicable hiatus — that inspired Tweedy to make WARM and finish his long-gestating memoir.
Produced and recorded by Tweedy, WARM follows 2017’s Together at Last, which featured stripped-down versions of songs from Wilco’s back catalogue. On the song Some Birds, Tweedy is in top analytical form and taking no emotional prisoners, including himself. “[It’s like] a lot of songs on WARM, being a confrontation between self and shadow self simultaneously feeling I’m to blame and not to blame, present and gone, and utterly confused, but determined to hold someone accountable,” Tweedy, who is not doing interviews to promote his in-progress solo tour, said in a statement.
When he appears in Victoria for his solo debut in the city, he’ll work as he often does during his solo shows — with no set list. That approach can produce spectacular results, especially for those who have followed him since his late ’80s/early ’90s days in Uncle Tupelo, the groundbreaking alternative-country act. He will often pull out some songs from his deep past, adding humorous asides whenever possible (when he was in the group, Tweedy was reserved to the point of being painfully shy).
Recent shows by Tweedy have also seen him play songs from the catalogues of Golden Smog and Loose Fur, his sideprojects featuring members of Wilco, Soul Asylum, the Replacements and the Jayhawks, along with selections from the acclaimed three-volume Mermaid Avenue series, Wilco’s collaboration with Billy Bragg on songs written by Woody Guthrie.
“It’s really what I feel comfortable playing that day,” he said during an interview with Montana newspaper The Missoulian, “seeing if I can put across a song that maybe would be less likely to be thought of in an acoustic environment. And other times, I don’t know if I would call it playing it safe, but sometimes I just stick to the stuff that I’m most confident with.”
He has been vocal about his battles with depression, and admits to using humour to cover up insecurities.