Jeff Tweedy on the power of music: "It's hard to be scared when you're singing a song"

Jeff Tweedy has released more than two dozen records in his career. But he may have outdone himself with his latest triple album, "Twilight Override." "It's a heaping helping!" he laughed.

Asked if he needed to do it, Tweedy replied, "Um, does anybody need to do anything? You know, we whittled it down from almost five records."

"Twilight Override" is a solo project from the 58-year-old singer best known as the front man of the rock band Wilco. We met at The Loft, the band's rehearsal area and recording studio in Chicago.

"My wife comes up and she gets angry, so angry!" Tweedy said.

"What does she see? All the money?" we asked.

"It's not necessarily money. I think it's just the gluttony!"

But he says he gets inspired by all the instruments: "It's almost like that scene in Willy Wonka when you open the [door], see the chocolate river. I open that door every day and go, 'Oh, what's gonna happen?'"

Tweedy's songwriting has made him an icon in the indie rock world. He constantly collects phrases that become the puzzle pieces of potential songs. One that didn't make it: "Grated parmesan in my eye."

But this one did: "In the window I have a twin / I look out, he sees in."

His workmanlike approach comes from his family. Tweedy grew up in Southern Illinois. His father was a railroad laborer. "My dad's switching yard where he worked was in East St. Louis," Tweedy said. "The idea was, if this didn't work out, I guess I'll work on the railroad. Maybe after I won a Grammy, that's when the penny dropped: I think that it might be something legitimate."

Tweedy can find inspiration even in Italian ices, when we stopped for a bite. "Anything that reminds you not to postpone joy is maybe helpful," he said.

"In terms of inspiration?"

"In terms of inspiration, and just building a strategy for survival."

It's something he learned 20 years ago when he was recovering from opioid addiction. "I was in the hospital, mental hospital. And it was the only thing I remember, was 'Do not postpone happiness.' And it just made the most sense to me of anything anybody had said up to that point."

In these chaotic times, Tweedy says music is as important to him as it's ever been. "It's the only place," he says, "I feel like I have, I'm powerful in any kind of way."

For all the leaves we'll burn
In autumn fires and then return
For all the fires we burn
All will return 

Music is my savior
I was maimed by rock and roll
I was maimed by rock and roll
I was tamed by rock and roll
I got my name from rock and roll
From "Sunken Treasure"

Tweedy once said, "Creativity eats darkness."

"It's, well, I mean, it's hard to be scared when you're singing a song," he said. "In particular, a certain type of music-making feels very grounding, and that is singing harmony vocals with your family."

Tweedy's band for "Twilight Override" includes his two sons, Spencer and Sammy.

"Some of these songs, we heard about many of them the day that they were written, 'cause he would just show us the voice memo or play it on guitar, like, right after writing it," said Sammy.

According to Spencer, "We really did treat it like playing catch as a kid, you know? We didn't do a lot of playing catch, but we did do a lot of playing music together."

Tweedy's other band, Wilco, which earned a gold record for their album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," and a Grammy for "A Ghost Is Born," has been making music for more than 30 years now. He's called Wilco "a rare middle-class band."

"Upper middle class probably, by most standards," Tweedy said.

What does that mean? "We're the rare band in that strata that I think has never really had a massive hit, or what has sustained it hasn't necessarily been radio play, or album sales even," he said. "It's really been kind of like this steady touring endeavor."

A devoted army of fans now follows them on the road. "The camaraderie, the connection that they have, we can't compete with that," Tweedy said. "I think all we can do is not let that down!"

"Does that feel like a responsibility?"

"It feels, yeah, like having a congregation of some sort. Yeah, I wanna feel like I deserve it. And part of wanting to feel like I deserve it means maintaining some sense of gratitude."

A sense of gratitude, Tweedy says, for the simple things – like enjoying an Italian ice on a bench.

You can stream the Jeff Tweedy triple-album "Twilight Override" by clicking on the embed below (Free Spotify registration required to hear the tracks in full):

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Extended interview - Jeff Tweedy (Video)

     
For more info:

• Jesse Welles (Official site)
• Jesse Welles on YouTube
• Thanks to Generation Records, New York City

      
Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: Remington Korper.