I love the growth of a band or a singer/songwriter over time.
In the case of Jeff Tweedy, lots of time, almost thirty years. I especially love when the world recognizes the surprising moment when they have morphed and changed and reinvented themselves. After all my motto is “reinventing myself one song at a time”. With the addition of his young son and his keen ability to embrace his depth of feeling in his songwriting, Jeff Tweedy once again blows me away.
The story of Jeff Tweedy is a complicated one of hard work, struggle, success, being patient, listening carefully for and developing a sound over time. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, has been playing the guitar ever since he was stranded after a bicycle accident at age twelve. Wracked with debilitating migraines most of his life and being diagnosed with both a major depressive disorder and anxiety attacks, it is a wondrous accomplishment that he possesses such a lovely songwriting ability for Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, and now Tweedy.
The Tweedy family project, album Sukierae, is one son named Spencer playing the drums, Jeff Tweedy who sings and plays guitar, and the album’s name is reportedly the nickname of his wife, Sue, in loving tribute to her as she unfortunately battles a recurrence of cancer. A family project full of heart and emotion. Sukierae has 20 songs that run over an hour of listening time. It is passionate, honest, and quite the masterpiece.
The track, “Low Key”, is one of the first released and I just can’t get it out of my mind. Hauntingly beautiful in the lyrical admission of being low key. Don’t be fooled, he is obviously filled to overflowing with deep emotion and understanding. All you have to do is listen carefully and check out the entire album.
Then, if you might, bear with me, you must listen to one of my favorites from the earlier days when he was with Wilco. This is such a lovely song where he struggles with love and the insecurities of being loved. A lesson to us all to accept whatever comes our way and accept simply being human. What other choice do we have, really?
