Jeff Tweedy

Latest Articles

Wilco | The Whole Love

dBpm (2011)
Wilco's evolution from Uncle Tupelo detritus to post-Americana thinking-man's jam band goes two steps back on their eighth studio album, and that's a good thing.
By ZETH LUNDY | September 27, 2011

Feeling bad with Good Kids Sprouting Horns

Animal instincts
We have a natural inclination toward harmony. We look for patterns and symmetry and create narratives out of coincidences.
By SAM PFEIFLE | May 25, 2011

From solid to standout

Brenda’s big summer ends at Wilco’s festival
Maybe the most surprising thing about Portland indie band Brenda’s set at the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival on the Mass MoCA campus in North Adams, Massachusetts, on Saturday was that people were actually there to see it. Lots of them.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | August 20, 2010

Wow, are we jealous

Sibilance
From the minute Wilco announced their Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA, we’ve wanted to go in the worst way.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | April 21, 2010

Flanagan’s empire

Native son Bill Flanagan — novelist and MTV executive — discusses big books, musical longevity, Irish Catholicism, and Behind the Music .
Once a staple of the pages of The NewPaper (original incarnation of The Providence Phoenix ), Warwick-born Bill Flanagan went on to become a prominent rock journalist whose credits include U2: At the End of the World , the definitive portrait of one of the world's biggest bands.
By MICHAEL ATCHISON | February 05, 2010

Americana: land of progress

Califone’s peerless take on the future of roots-rock
You can listen to 30 seconds of any Califone song and get a fair idea of what the band is all about.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | October 14, 2009

Rosanne Cash | The List

Manhattan (2009)
In 1973, when she was an 18-year-old rock fan, Rosanne Cash's dad gave her a list of songs he felt she should know — mostly country, all falling under the current banner Americana. She held onto that list, and now she's recorded a dozen tunes from it.
By JEFF TAMARKIN | September 28, 2009

Photos: Bonnaroo 2009

Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, Elvis Costello, and more at Bonnaroo 2009
Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, Elvis Costello, and more at Bonnaroo 2009 in Manchester, Tennessee
By LEXY WINTER | June 17, 2009

Wilco | Wilco (The Album)

Nonesuch (2009)
The cover photo of a camel wearing a party hat on a terrace is a clue: after nearly a decade of fighting Jeff Tweedy and Wilco have lightened up.
By RYAN STEWART | May 19, 2009

Touch me, feel me

Subject Bias tell you When, Where, and How
After three increasingly good discs in 2004, 2005, and 2006, Subject Bias took 2007 off, but return with eight songs in 2008 that continue to show that Kevin Ouellette is one of the area’s best songwriters.
By SAM PFEIFLE | July 21, 2008

Rock-and-roll heart

Stephen Malkmus gets Jicky with it
Stephen Malkmus: expert Scrabble player, The Wire enthusiast, husband, father, indie-rock demigod.
By WILL SPITZ | March 18, 2008

Push all the livid out

Cambiata side project Daro go more alt-country than alt-rock
Just when you thought it was safe to slag all those pesky young people with a reputation for laziness, here comes Sean Morin.
By SAM PFEIFLE | February 06, 2008

Cynthia M. Reed

Almost famous
I’m your friendly neighborhood socialite/librarian.
By FRANK MULLIN | November 14, 2007

At home with home

Sara Cox arrives at domesticity with Crowded Is the New Lonely
Women may dominate the pop charts from time to time, but in the annals of acknowledged rock/pop greatness, they are few in number.
By SAM PFEIFLE | May 30, 2007

On the Racks: May 15, 2007

New discs by Dunger, Dolores, Rufus, Wilco, and Linkin Park
Don’t feel bad if you find yourself thinking of Tio Bitar as the sophomore album by the Swedish neo-psychedelic band Dungen.
By MATT ASHARE | May 15, 2007

Evolution rock

Jeff Tweedy takes Wilco to the next level
For the past 11 years, Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy has been trying to carve his band’s image into the Mount Rushmore of Great American Rock.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | May 08, 2007

Son Volt

The Search | Transmit Sound/Legacy
The usual rap against Son Volt is that the group adhere too tightly to roots-music orthodoxy — in other words, that they’re dead boring.
By MIKAEL WOOD | April 10, 2007

The Autumn Defense

The Autumn Defense | Broadmoor
An amiable soft-rock duo comprising two members of Wilco, the Autumn Defense provide a refuge for alt-country traditionalists vexed by Wilco’s increasing artiness.
By MIKAEL WOOD | March 12, 2007

American classic

Charlie Louvin returns
How old-school is Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin?
By TED DROZDOWSKI | March 06, 2007

Rhino Hi-Fives

More songs for less
Rhino has stuff you won’t find at most stores or even find out about unless you check in with Rhino.
By MATT ASHARE | December 19, 2006

Hunting the wild Klosterman

Things about the pop-culture writer that are true, things that might be true, and something that isn’t true at all
He is Charles John “Chuck” Klosterman: pop-culture critic, four-time author, celebrity profiler, Esquire columnist, ESPN Page 2 sportswriter, former Spin senior editor, unrepentant Billy Joel fan. And he makes girls spit. Chuck Klosterman reads from Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (mp3)
By CAMILLE DODERO | October 05, 2006

On Golden Smog

Golden Smog, the Paradise, September 18, 2006
Golden Smog's tours feel like an easy excuse for a bunch of old buddies to get together and do what they love. Slideshow: Golden Smog at the Paradise
By TOM KIELTY | September 19, 2006

Forward into the past!

Oldies and more in the season’s CD releases
Could it be just a coincidence that as I sit here writing this, a grizzled Bob Seger is gearing up for the release of Face the Promise , the Detroit rocker’s first proper studio album in, oh, forever and a day? The Lemonheads, "No Backbone" (mp3)
By MATT ASHARE | September 14, 2006

Missionary man

The country-rock gospel of Gram Parsons
Parsons’s influence is pervasive, from the Stones to Elvis Costello, Uncle Tupelo, and Wilco.
By MATT ASHARE | August 03, 2006

Oh brother, where alt thou?

A popular cult genre searches for its lost highway
In the summer of 1995, Grant Alden was documenting “the tail end of the grunge years” as managing editor of a Seattle music weekly, the Rocket . Alejandro Escovedo, "Broken Bottle" (mp3 via MySpace) Drive-By Truckers, "Feb. 14" (mp3 via MySpace)
By FRANKLIN SOULTS | August 02, 2006