Jeff Tweedy

Jeff Tweedy.

Jeff Tweedy (born August 25, 1967 in Belleville, Illinois, United States) is an American songwriter, musician, and poet best known for his work with the group Wilco. Tweedy also founded (along with Jay Farrar) the Alternative country group Uncle Tupelo, and is a member of Golden Smog, an occasional musical collective whose shifting personnel also includes members of The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum and The Replacements. He also teamed up with Billy Bragg to set Woody Guthrie's lyrics to music on the albums Mermaid Avenue and Mermaid Avenue Vol. 2.

Uncle Tupelo's first album was entitled "No Depression" and the title track became a touchstone for a new movement. The song, a Carter Family tune, became the title associated with the resurgence of Gram Parsons' inspired americana (somewhere between country and rock). After four albums with Uncle Tupelo, Farrar left and founded the harder rocking Son Volt and Tweedy picked up the pieces and remaining members of Uncle Tupelo to form Wilco. Their first album, rooted firmly in the burgeoning Alt-Country category, was titled A.M.

Tweedy and Wilco began to explore new soundscapes and broke from the style of previous recordings on the seminal sprawling double album Being There in 1996. Wilco then released the more classicist pop-influenced Summerteeth in 1999. After the band recorded Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and delivered it to their current label, Reprise Records, they were told that the album was not commercially viable, and that Reprise was considering releasing Wilco from their current contract. Rather than change the music, Wilco opted to be released from their contract with Reprise, and Reprise allowed Wilco to keep their master tapes, creating an incredibly envious position in rock music contracts today. Wilco rested for a while, and after some negotiations, a very enthusiastic Nonesuch Records offered them a contract, and a deal to release Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in its recorded form. Interestingly, both Reprise and Nonesuch are both owned by parent company Time Warner, and it has been said that Wilco performed the ultimate record industry coupâ€"that of getting a company to pay for recording their record (through Reprise), then that company giving them the tapes and releasing them from their contract, only to then later buy the record back (through Nonesuch) at nearly three times the price that they paid to record it. The critically-hailed album was finally released on Nonesuch Records in 2002. The process of recording Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the record industry backlash was portrayed in the 2002 documentary film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart directed by Sam Jones, which also saw the departure of longtime multi-instrumentalist and producer Jay Bennett. Wilco released their fifth album A Ghost is Born in 2004 which won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. The following year, the band released their first live outing in the form of a two-disc set entitled Kicking Television. It was recorded in their hometown of Chicago.

Tweedy released a book of poetry, Adult Head, in 2004. He also spent time in a rehabilitation facility for depression and an addiction to painkillers. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he called his time in rehab a "really beautiful experience."

In June 2006 Jeff Tweedy announced the release of a live DVD of his solo performances to be released by Nonesuch records, it was produced by Fugazi's Brendan Canty and filming took place on Tweedy's February solo tour. The DVD is expected to be released sometime in Fall 2006.

Tweedy is married to Sue Miller, the former owner of the now-defunct Chicago club, Lounge Ax. They have two children together, Sam and Spencer Tweedy. Spencer is a member of the band The Blisters.

Both of their sons, Sam and Spencer, have followed in their father's footsteps, playing in their own band, The Blisters, who played alongside Wilco at Chicago's Lollapalooza 2006.

See also

* The Autumn Defense
* Golden Smog
* Loose Fur
* The Minus 5
* Uncle Tupelo
* Wilco

External links

* Who Owns Culture? - Jeff Tweedy and Lawrence Lessig in conversation with Steven Johnson
*Jeff Tweedy's Top 10 Favorite Live Albums
*Press Conference with Jeff Tweedy on The BackStage Pass internet radio show