Thursday, August 17, 2006

Jeff Tweedy at the NC Museum of Art


Sometime soon on this blog, I will write a series on albums that changed my life. There will be two albums featuring the talents of Jeff Tweedy, one by his previous band Uncle Tupelo and one by his current band Wilco, so last night was a treat for me. Mr. Tweedy played at the outdoor ampitheatre at the NC Museum of art, which is one of the nicest venues in the area (plus free parking and reasonably priced beer). It was a beautiful night to be outdoors, with a great bunch of guys in our crew (4 wives had tickets, but none made it) and the performance was great. He played a diverse set of mostly newer Wilco songs (heavy from "A Ghost is Born" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot") with a few Uncle Tupelo songs thrown in ("New Madrid" and "Acuff Rose" were highlights for me) and handled the hecklers in the crowd with grace and humor. He also performed quite a few songs I just didn't know, perhaps not recorded or from one of his other side bands (Loose Fur, Golden Smog, etc.) that I just don't have time to follow. Tweedy gave a shouout to NC native blues-woman Elizabeth Cotton and played a few bars from one of her songs. Overall, his part of the show was about an hour and a half. Jennifer O'Connor was the opening act.
As much as I like Wilco (which is a whole lot), sometimes their music is a little too "dense" for me. Seeing Tweedy perform these songs solo, his vocals accompanied only by his own guitar playing, makes the songs more accessible. I can then go back and listen to the layered, textured, sampled Wilco recordings and appreciate them much more. Tweedy's intensely personal songwriting, raw vocals, and able guitar playing is the americana/roots rock base on which increasingly progressive Wilco is built upon.
(Note: I stole this picture from someone else's website. I took the obligatory blurry picture with my new cellphone, but can't figure out how to get the pictures from the camera to my computer.)

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