Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) is not Jeff Tweedy’s way of trying to be clever with a book title The title only makes sense if you finish reading his memoir, which was released this week. I won’t be mentioning any spoilers here minus the most obvious one: you have to read it for … Read more
I can’t walk through the harrowed halls of the high school where I teach without feeling the lingering, raucous spirit of White Rabbits drifting between classrooms and custodial closets. Okay. Kidding. But, I still love the fact that I live and work where Greg Roberts and Jamie Levinson hit puberty and rocked out in … Read more
The lure of a music festival is appealing — a huge list of bands you love, a hip environment, loads of things to do. It all seems so perfect and incredibly accommodating. But if you’ve been to a huge music festival, you know it can also be a lot of work to get from stage … Read more
Last week, we began our 2013 LouFest coverage with a Q & A with festival founder Brian Cohen, who discussed the ins and outs of the festival, the bargain that is the 2-day pass (still available here; VIP packages have now sold out), and the new partnership with C3 Presents. Check out our chat with … Read more
Photo by Jason Gonulsen Short on long term goals There’s a party there that we ought to go to If you still love rock and roll You still love rock and roll? I do believe St. Louis needs a major outdoor music festival. I do believe LouFest is the answer. And I do believe Wilco … Read more
Daylight come Daylight go How far will it reach Ain’t nobody know LouFest begins today in St. Louis with local favorites Kentucky Knife Fight kicking things off on the BMI stage. From there, you’ll have plenty of choices like Ra Ra Riot, The National, Wilco, and the guy who we’re featuring today: Jim James of … Read more
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco | All photos by Louis Kwok Before launching into “Born Alone,” a track from Wilco’s latest album, The Whole Love, Belleville, Illinois native Jeff Tweedy spoke about recent loss in the area, and expressed hope that music was as helpful to the audience as it was to himself. He then dedicated … Read more
Bob Dylan | Photo by Jason Gonulsen When I travel to see live music, I go in looking for a feeling. A part of me will always need these journeys away from home to seek something familiar in a different environment. I go to see what will happen. I go because I still believe in … Read more
Photo by Tim Richmond And in the limp through years of bored schooling She’s accustomed to hearing that she could never run far A slipped disc in the spine of community A bloody curse word in a pedestrian verse Frightened Rabbit’s albums and Scott Hutchison’s words have been with me in the best of times … Read more
Somehow, the band from Festus, Missouri made it through. But it’s not like The Bottle Rockets have gone completely under the radar. In 2007, Stephen King (yes, the guy who wrote Carrie) called them “America’s premier bar band . . . often categorized as alt-country — by people who need categories.” They’ve toured extensively with … Read more
The above photo represents how The Bottle Rockets once were. Sort of, anyway. Brian Henneman is still around, of course — but doesn’t look like that now, thanks to an Atkins diet that left him in tip-top shape. Henneman still shares the stage with drummer Mark Ortmann (far right), but Tom Ray and Tom Parr … Read more
How’s this for Monday Morning news? Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy will be releasing a solo album and touring North America with a new band this summer. The new band, you ask? Well. It will feature “Tweedy’s 18-year old son Spencer Tweedy (The Blisters, Mavis Staples) on drums, Jim Elkington (The Horse’s Ha, Eleventh Dream Day) on … Read more
Love every song that I know You ask me well how so Strange I can’t defend I love how every song ends There are twenty songs on Sukierae, the new album released today by Tweedy, a duo featuring Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and his son, Spencer. And the song I’m most interested in is the one … Read more
Jeff Tweedy blows a kiss to his wife, Susie | All photos by Jason Gonulsen (***NOTE: To download this show via torrent, go here.) When we came here today All I wanted to say was how much I miss you Jeff Tweedy isn’t a sentimental guy. He told us that during the latter stages of Friday … Read more
Photo by Austin Nelson You know it’s all beginning… To feel like it’s ending… Three years ago today, my buddy Jason and I launched Speakers in Code, an experimental writing playground of sorts where we could spread the word on the artists and music that we loved. We had not a clue in the world … Read more
Things are moving rather fast today. So, I’m gonna take it back old school. Old school for me, anyway. This was the first track on a mix tape that my cousin Peri made for me back in 2001. You could say this song made me believe that there were other artists/bands out there not named … Read more
AKG’s flying in Columbia, MO. I’d like to thank you all for nothing at all Last week, we wrote about Wilco’s concert at Live on Ninth Street in Columbia. What we didn’t tell you was that our digital archivist, Chris Finn, captured it all for you to enjoy. Here are a few samples, and below … Read more
UPDATE: Download the show here. What you once were isn’t what you want to be anymore Things change, people change. There was a rather long period in my life where all I listened to was Neil Young and, to a lesser extent, Bob Dylan. And while Young is still my all-time favorite artist (just listen … Read more
Many of us know this song as we hear it on A Ghost is Born and Kicking Television, but “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” started out much simpler from that version. Actually, it was first performed in 2001 at a Jeff Tweedy solo show in Chicago; below, taken from the 2002 Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, it’s with the … Read more
A few years ago, my friend played me The National’s “Daughters of the Soho Riots” at a party, causing a few people in attendance to groan and request something “faster.” Granted, it was a party, people were drinking, probably making out in closets, but I would have none of it. I had never heard of … Read more
I’m assuming you got my messageOn your machineI’m assuming you love meAnd you know what that means Well, this is a surprise. A beautiful surprise. If I wasn’t convinced that Grace Potter could sing just about anything, I sure am now. Have a look/listen before you head to bed!
Photo by Zoran Orlic Let me take you back to the first time I saw Wilco. It was in 2001 at The Pageant, the band’s first performance at the venue they’ve now played seven times over the past decade, all of which have been sellouts. But their first time, well, it was a little weird. … Read more
This past weekend at their self-curated music festival (Solid Sound at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), Chicago-based rockers Wilco played a new single entitled “I Might.” Available only on vinyl (for now), “I Might” is a straight-forward, buzzy rocker with keyboard and xylophone notes that provide hints of a 1960’s vibe. The track is … Read more
Speakers Rating: 96/100 “I still love you to death, and I won’t ever forget how,” Jeff Tweedy sings on the title track of Wilco’s eighth studio album, The Whole Love. It’s one of Wilco’s best albums in a few years because it exudes happiness and vulnerability at the same time. Yes, this is the band … Read more
Album art credit: Nate Burrell and Kristin Dennis 1 The Cool Kids | When Fish Ride Bicycles (Green Label Sound) Release Date: July 12th Listen: “Bundle Up” 2 Sleepy Kitty | Infinity City (Euclid) Release Date: July 12th Listen: “Gimme a Chantz!” 3 William Elliott Whitmore | Field Songs (ANTI-) Release Date: July 12th Listen: … Read more
Our favorite album of the year: Bon Iver’s Bon Iver 50 Panda Bear – Tomboy (Paw Tracks) [buy the album] 49 Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore (Razor & Tie) [buy the album] 48 GIVERS – In Light (Glassnote) [buy the album] 47 Admiral Fallow – Boots Met My Face (Lo-Five) [buy the album] 46 The Civil Wars – … Read more
Well, friends, the end is no longer near. It’s here. The end of our Best Songs of 2011 countdown, that is. The real end comes next December, as we all know. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Bon Iver landed the number one spot with the track, “Holocene.” But, amazingly, the song and the record itself … Read more
Alt-country is the one genre of music that I understand completely. It’s strangely familiar after growing up in the south, but when executed properly, it takes me to new places that challenge the definition of the category. True to form, I connected instantly with Athens-based alt-country newbies, Futurebirds the first time I queued up the … Read more
Photo by Jason Gonulsen Wilco has not played The Fox Theatre in St. Louis since September of 2004, but that will change on Wednesday, August 17th. And guess what? You still have a chance to purchase tickets (which, by the way, has not been the case recently in St. Louis, and will probably not be … Read more
ALL PHOTOS BY JASON GONULSEN “I never lived in St. Louis,” said Jeff Tweedy, a Belleville, Illinois native. “But I worked here. Not very hard.” Tweedy was referring to his days as a Euclid Records employee, a store where Wilco, earlier in the day, had played an acoustic set for 150 fans. And while Wilco … Read more