Jeff Tweedy

Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, author, and record producer, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, began his music career in high school with his band The Plebes along with Jay Farrar, also in the band. The Plebes later became the alternative country band Uncle Tupelo.

After Uncle Tupelo broke up, Tweedy formed Wilco which found critical and commercial success, most notably with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. The latter received a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2005.

During his career Tweedy has released 20 studio albums including four with Uncle Tupelo, twelve with Wilco, one with his son Spencer, a solo acoustic album, three solo studio albums, along with numerous collaborations with other musicians, most notably Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg.

Early life

Tweedy was born in Belleville on August 25, 1967, the fourth child of Bob and JoAnn Tweedy (née Werkmeister). Bob Tweedy (died August 4, 2017) worked for Alton & Southern Railroad in East St. Louis; JoAnn was a housemaker.

In 1981, when Tweedy was fourteen years old, he befriended Jay Farrar during an English class at Belleville Township High School West. Tweedy attended Belleville Area College and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Tweedy pushed The Plebes away from the rockabilly music that they had been playing, which caused Dade Farrar to leave the band. The band renamed themselves The Primatives in 1984, taking their name from a song by garage rock band The Groupies. Wade Farrar sang lead vocals and played harmonica, Jay Farrar played guitar, Tweedy played bass guitar, and Mike Heidorn played drums. In late 1986, the band decided to change their name to Uncle Tupelo, because a more popular British band was also using the name "The Primitives". The Primatives went on hiatus in 1986 after Wade Farrar left the band to finish his engineering degree at Southern Illinois University. Tweedy met Tony Margherita. After Margherita saw the band perform at an acoustic concert in 1988, he decided to become the band's manager. The band began playing regular shows at Cicero's basement bar in the Delmar Loop near Washington University in St. Louis with other bands playing in a similar style. Around this time, Tweedy began developing problems with alcohol, leading to tensions between Tweedy and Farrar. While he never refused to play a gig, Tweedy was forced to sit out in place of Henneman at some performances. Tweedy quit drinking entirely after meeting future wife Sue Miller, although he replaced this habit with smoking marijuana. However, after developing a dependence on marijuana, he quickly quit using it, as well.

Breakup

In January 1994, Farrar called Tony Margherita to tell him that the band was breaking up, saying that he was not having any fun in the band anymore and was not getting along with Tweedy. Tweedy was enraged that Farrar decided to break up the band without notifying him, and this led to a series of harsh verbal exchanges. Farrar and Tweedy agreed to a final Uncle Tupelo tour, but the concerts were marred by the two not participating in each other's songs. The band decided to play Tweedy's "The Long Cut" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which further distanced Farrar and Tweedy. Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum invited Tweedy to join him in a supergroup named Golden Smog with Gary Louris and Marc Perlman of the Jayhawks, Kraig Johnson of Run Westy Run, and Noah Levy of The Honeydogs. Under the pseudonym Scott Summit, Tweedy released Down by the Old Mainstream with Golden Smog in 1996. Reprise records invested $100,000 in the single "Outta Mind (Outtasite)", but received little radio exposure. While on tour, Tweedy began to spend time reading books by William H. Gass, Henry Miller, and John Fante. As he read their books, Tweedy decided to place more of an emphasis on writing.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

left|thumb|Wilco at MassMoca

Jeff Tweedy was invited to play at Chicago's Noise Pop festival, and was told that he could collaborate with a musician of his choosing. Tweedy chose Jim O'Rourke based on his fascination with O'Rourke's Bad Timing album. O'Rourke offered to bring drummer Glenn Kotche to the festival, and the trio formed a side project named Loose Fur. The other band members of Wilco had written a number of songs for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but Tweedy was unsatisfied with them because he believed that the songs did not sound like the ones he played with Loose Fur. Tweedy became such a fan of Kotche's playing style that he decided to dismiss Ken Coomer from the band in favor of Kotche. Tweedy also fired Bennett around this time, believing (according to Bennett) that Wilco should only have one core member.

Reprise Records' parent company Time Warner merged with America Online in 2001, and the recording company was asked to cut costs. Howie Klein, the CEO of Reprise Records, considered Wilco to be one of the label's core bands, but was offered a lucrative buy-out by AOL Time Warner. Reprise did not consider the album commercially viable and was not interested in releasing the album. David Kahne (Head of A&R) agreed to release Wilco from Reprise under the condition that Wilco got to keep all legal entitlements to the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album. One of the thirty was Warner Brothers affiliate Nonesuch Records, who signed Wilco in November 2001. AOL Time Warner paid Wilco to make the album on Reprise, gave them the record for free, and then bought it back on the Nonesuch label. The album became the biggest hit of Jeff Tweedy's career and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over 500,000 copies.

A Ghost Is Born

alt=|thumb|Tweedy in 2007

Scott McCaughey contacted Tweedy about recording an album together for a The Minus 5 release. They scheduled a meeting for September 11, 2001, but were reluctant to enter the recording studio after the terrorist attacks. At night, McCaughey and Tweedy decided to begin recording songs as a way to calm down. A few more tracks were later added to the album with the rest of Wilco, and it was released with the name Down with Wilco in 2003. The album was awarded with Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package in 2005. A few weeks before the album's release, Tweedy released a book of forty-three poems entitled Adult Head on Zoo Press. The following year, the band released their first live album, a two-disc set entitled Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, recorded at The Vic Theater.

Later Wilco albums

Wilco recorded twelve tracks for a sixth studio album entitled Sky Blue Sky, which was released on May 15, 2007. Sky Blue Sky debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, the band's highest debut yet. It sold over 87,000 copies in its first week of release.

In early May 2009, former Wilco member Jay Bennett sued Tweedy for breach of contract. Bennett died later that month of an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl. In June 2009 Wilco released their seventh studio album Wilco (The Album), followed by The Whole Love in 2011, Star Wars in 2015, Schmilco in 2016, Ode to Joy in 2019, Cruel Country in May 2022, and Cousin in 2023.

Other work

Jeff Tweedy has performed several solo tours, on which he typically plays acoustic music. He also recorded the song "Simple Twist of Fate" for the soundtrack to I'm Not There. On October 24, 2006, Nonesuch Records released Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest, a live DVD by Tweedy. The disc includes performances and conversations gathered over five nights on Tweedy's February 2006 solo acoustic tour, with footage from concerts at Seattle's Moore Theater, Portland's Crystal Ballroom, Eugene's McDonald Theatre, Arcata's Humboldt State University, and The Fillmore in San Francisco. The DVD was directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi's Brendan Canty, the creators of the documentary series Burn to Shine.

Tweedy has partnered with Mavis Staples on three acclaimed albums. In 2010 they released You Are Not Alone, in 2013, One True Vine, and in 2017 If All I Was Was Black. Tweedy played an array of instruments on these albums and wrote many of the songs.

Tweedy worked with the psychedelic-influenced garage rock group White Denim on their record Corsicana Lemonade, recording some songs at Wilco's Chicago studio The Loft. In 2015 the album Still by Richard Thompson was released. The album was produced by Tweedy in The Loft Studios and features Tweedy on guitar, keyboards and backing vocals.

Tweedy has appeared as a fictional singer-songwriter on 2014 episodes of Parks and Recreation and Portlandia.

On June 4, 2014, it was announced that he had formed a new band called Tweedy with his son Spencer. The band's debut album Sukierae was released on September 16. The release was followed by a world tour in which half of the set consisted of new songs off Sukierae performed by a touring band including Spencer. The latter half of the set Tweedy plays solo, typically performing Wilco and Uncle Tupelo classics.

In June 2017 Jeff Tweedy released a solo acoustic album of eleven songs spanning his career from Wilco, Loose Fur, and Golden Smog titled Together at Last. In November 2018 Jeff Tweedy released a memoir titled Let's Go (So We Can Get Back) and his first solo album of new material, titled Warm. A companion album to Warm titled Warmer was released on April 13, 2019, as a Record Store Day exclusive.

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic Susan Tweedy and her family created a recurring video series on Instagram dubbed The Tweedy Show featuring Jeff and their sons performing original and cover songs. During the shelter-in-place Jeff Tweedy also wrote and recorded his third solo album titled Love Is the King which was announced to release on October 23, 2020 and wrote his second book titled How to Write One Song which was announced to release on October 13, 2020, on the E. P. Dutton publishing label. His third book, World Within a Song, was released in November 2023.

In September 2025, Tweedy released a triple-album of new solo material, Twilight Override. He wrote the album over a two year period and recorded the 30 tracks in collaboration with friends and both of his sons, Sammy and Spencer.

Musical style

left|thumb|Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche Wilco at Susquehanna Bank Center XPoNential Music Festival 2012

Tweedy's musical style has varied over his music career. Tweedy's vocal style is considered nasal, emotional, and raspy, and has been compared to that of Neil Young. His first exposure to music was through gramophone records that his siblings left behind when they attended college, and he particularly liked The Beatles' White Album. Tweedy would frequently read issues of magazines such as Rolling Stone, and began to purchase punk rock albums such as The Clash's London Calling and X's Wild Gift. Belleville crowds did not respond well to punk music, so while Tweedy was a member of The Primitives they played covers of country songs at much faster tempos. He also has been known to use a Breedlove 000 and even designed a limited edition 000 for Breedlove in 2007. His amplifier of choice is a Vox AC30.

Personal life

Tweedy has been prone to having migraines throughout his life; he has missed as many as forty days of elementary school in one year with the condition. In 2004, he entered a dual diagnosis rehabilitation clinic in order to receive treatment for an addiction to prescription painkiller Vicodin. Tweedy quit smoking the next year, which John Stirratt claimed afterward significantly improved the focus of the band.

Tweedy is married to former bookkeeper Sue Miller and lives in the Irving Park area of Chicago. He first met Miller when he was trying to get Uncle Tupelo booked at Cubby Bear, where Miller worked. Miller later co-owned Lounge Ax, which booked Uncle Tupelo for 16 shows over four years. They began dating in 1991 and were married on August 9, 1995. They have two sons: Spencer and Sam. Spencer was the drummer for pre-teen rock band The Blisters and a new band called Tully Monster. In 2008, Spencer joined Wilco on stage at Madison Square Garden to play drums on their song "The Late Greats," while opening for Neil Young. Tweedy has converted to Judaism. His wife is Jewish; their sons both had Bar Mitzvah ceremonies. During the ceremony for his older son, Tweedy played an acoustic version of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young".

In November 2019 Tweedy's home in Irving Park was shot at least seven times in an attack described by his son as "not targeted".

Twilight Override (2025)

With Uncle Tupelo

No Depression (1990)
Still Feel Gone (1991)
March 16–20, 1992 (1992)
Anodyne (1993)

With Wilco

A.M. (1995)
Being There (1996)
Summerteeth (1999)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001)
A Ghost Is Born (2004)
Sky Blue Sky (2007)
Wilco (The Album) (2009)
The Whole Love (2011)
Star Wars (2015)
Schmilco (2016)
Ode to Joy (2019)
Cruel Country (2022)
Cousin (2023)
Hot Sun Cool Shroud (2024)

With Tweedy

Sukierae (2014)

Publications

Tweedy, Jeff (2004). Adult Head: Poems . Lincoln, Neb.: Zoo Press. . .
Saunders, George (2017). Lincoln in the Bardo (audiobook edition). Narration: Jeff Tweedy. New York: Random House Audio. . .
Tweedy, Jeff (2018). Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. New York: Dutton Books. . . Autobiography.
Tweedy, Jeff (2020). How to Write One Song. New York: Dutton Books. . .
Tweedy, Jeff (2023). World Within a Song. New York: Penguin Random House. . .

Notes and references

External links

Who Owns Culture? – Jeff Tweedy and Lawrence Lessig in conversation with Steven Johnson, New York Public Library on April 7, 2005. Internet Archive, Community Audio.
Wilco (official website)