If It's Too Loud...

Wilco have been hosting a three day festival every other year for a while now, and we just haven't been able to make it to one yet. That might need to change for 2024 as the line up is bonkers. There are obviously multiple sets from Wilco planned for the weekend, but they brought their A-game with the rest of the line up. Highlights include the brilliant country-rock of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, the artsy post punk of England's Dry Cleaning, the influential power pop of Nick Lowe and Los Straightjackets, the Americana of Iris Dement, Wednesday's alt-country meets indie rock, Chicago's new favorite indie rockers Horsegirl, the hardcore punk of Soul Glo, more Chicago indie rock from Ratboys, and a ton more music! Plus, non musical entertainment like John Hodgman's Comedy Cabaret, the Song Exploder podcast, and more. Solid Sound 2024 will once again take place at Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA from June 28-30. Tickets and more information can be found here . The ful...

Photo by Alexa Viscius I'm tempted to say that this seems like it was released just for me, but obviously Jeff Tweedy covering Neil Young is going to appeal to a lot of people. Last year Jeff Tweedy released Love is the King , an Americana solo album. December will see the release of a deluxe reissue, which will include a second disc that includes live versions of every track on Love is the King  plus a cover of Neil Young's "Old Country Waltz." It's an interesting choice taken from Neil Young's 1976 recorded and 2017 released album Hitchhiker. The main difference is that Young's original is just him solo and Tweedy's includes a full band, but it sounds exactly like what you'd expect Jeff Tweedy covering Neil Young to sound like, and who doesn't want that? You can watch the video for Jeff Tweedy's version of "Old Country Waltz" below. Love is the King/Live is the King is due out December 10 on dBpm Records and is sure to be on man...

Photo by Sammy Tweedy At this point, we all kinda know what we're going to get with a new Jeff Tweedy solo song. "Gwendolyn" is exactly that. It's a little more country than modern Wilco, but nowhere near as country as early Wilco was. It's solidly laid back Americana. It has just the slightest hint of a groove to it, particularly in the guitar. Plus, since it is Tweedy, there is some odd noise to keep the indie rockers happy. Yeah. "Gwendolyn" is a prime example of the type of Americana us middle aged indie rock fans gravitate towards these days. And that's pretty much perfect. You can watch the video for "Gwendolyn" below. Love is the King , the new album from Jeff Tweedy, will be out October 23 on dBPM Records. To order the album, and for more information on Jeff Tweedy, check out Wilco's website .

Photo by Whitten Sabatini Jeff Tweedy is going to have a very busy October. His second book, How To Write One Song , is due out on the 13th, and he has a new solo album due out on the 23rd. Right now he's released two singles from the album, "Guess Again" and "Love is the King."  Jeff Tweedy says of the singles: “ At the beginning of the lockdown I started writing country songs to console myself .  Folk and country type forms being the shapes that come most easily to me in a comforting way. 'Guess Again' is a good example of the success I was having at pushing the world away, counting my blessings — taking stock in my good fortune to have love in my life.  A few weeks later things began to sound like 'Love Is The King' — a little more frayed around the edges with a lot more fear creeping in. Still hopeful but definitely discovering the limits of my own ability to self sooth e." The difference between the two moods is very reflectiv...

Photo by Steve Visneau Well... here's something I never thought I'd write: 90's hard rockers Toadies have recorded a cover of "You Are Not Alone," Mavis Staples's 2010 song with Jeff Tweedy. I've long felt that Toadies were unfortunately lumped in with a lot of the post-Nirvana alt-garbage that came out in the mid-90's, and 1994's Rubberneck has some seriously great songs on it. That being said, a partially acoustic cover of a song from an eighty year old gospel singer and the lead singer of Wilco? Recorded in quarantine, Toadies give us a shockingly faithful version of the original, except Vaden Todd Lewis isn't quite the singer Mavis Staples is, and I doubt he'd take that as an insult.  Lewis explains the choice of the cover: “I first heard this Jeff Tweedy song about 2 weeks ago. It was a live performance of Tweedy with Mavis Staples, and it felt like it had been written for this very moment, when we can’t hug our friends or even s...

Photo by Whitten Sabbatini At this point in his career, you already know if you're going to listen to a new song or album that Jeff Tweedy is involved in. His work with Wilco and his solo work has a certain feel to it, and there are plenty of fans that have jumped off the bandwagon calling his newer output "dad rock," and there are plenty still on that love that he puts out dad rock. His newest solo single, "I Know What It's Like," is really worth a listen even if you're in the former category. Sure, the song is 100% dad rock, and it certainly isn't rewriting the Jeff Tweedy formula at all. But the man can write an amazing song, and if you just give "I Know What It's Like" a chance, you might end up falling back in love with his music.  You can watch the video for "I Know What It's Like" below. Jeff Tweedy's solo album, WARM (which is somehow his first solo album (?)), will be out November 30 on dBPM Records. It ...

Photo by Whitten Sabbatini We're at the point with Jeff Tweedy that you already know if you're going to like any new music he puts out. Personally, I truly enjoy the vast majority of his recent output, and I know Jeff enjoys it much less than I do. "Some Birds" isn't going to bring any lapsed fans back onto the Wilco/Tweedy bandwagon. It's pretty standard Jeff Tweedy material, in that it's definitely based in American roots music but, of course, strays ever so slightly off path into semi-experimental territory. You can tell an artist's true importance when a critique of their new output is that it won't change your life. "Some Birds" won't change your life, but there is plenty for you to like if you give it a shot. You can watch the video for "Some Birds" below. Jeff Tweedy's new solo album, WARM , will be out November 30 on dBpm Records. You can pre-order your copy here . For more on what Jeff Tweedy is up to, che...