In mid-December, Chicago-based band Wilco came to St. Paul for three nights of concerts at the Palace Theatre. On the afternoon of Friday’s concert, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy visited The Current studio for a conversation with host Jessica Paxton. In the interview, Tweedy shared his thoughts on the power of practice and imagination, and what he finds appealing about classic books. Listen to the full interview using the audio player above, and read a transcript below.

Editor’s note: This interview posted following Wilco’s three-night run at the Palace Theatre. Read a recap and see photo gallery of An Evening (Or Three) with Wilco.

Interview Transcript

Jessica Paxton: Jessica Paxton with you, joined right now by none other than Wilco frontman, Jeff Tweedy, thanks so much for being here, Jeff.

Jeff Tweedy: Thanks for having me.

Jessica Paxton: It's very exciting. I'm gonna have you like, really stick your face up to the mic so that we can enjoy your dulcet tones. So you know, Wilco, come on, let's be honest, one of the most influential and important American bands of the 2000s and beyond. Do you just pinch yourself sometimes and go, is that me? Is that us?

Jeff Tweedy: I can't ... What? I'm just still trying to reach this microphone. You put it tantalizingly out of reach.

Jessica Paxton: Next time, we'll get you like a booster seat.

Jeff Tweedy: What the heck? I thought I was normal height.

Jessica Paxton: See, that's why I'm standing. That's why you’ve kind of got to stand. So you're in town. Not only is it Wilco Weekend here at The Current because we are so thrilled to have you here, but you're in town for three nights. It's your formerly known as Winterlude. So you're here, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, tonight, tomorrow night, Sunday, Palace Theatre. I saw that, you're doing the Winterlude, Tulsa, Austin, or, excuse me, Austin, then Tulsa. Now St. Paul; how'd you select the three? How did we make the cut?

Jeff Tweedy: Well, I mean, we have a lot of ties to Minneapolis. It's one of our favorite places. We've done the Winterlude type of shows, which is like, usually three nights, sometimes four or five nights. And we've done them in the past where we've played every song we've ever released. We've done them, most of the time, we do them without any repeats, so that the tickets can kind of be sold as a set, or it's like, so, you know, really, really hardcore fans don't want to hear the same songs they've heard a lot. So it's a, it's a nice way to get to play a lot of stuff that we don't normally play. And, but we've done it in Chicago so many times, we thought we'd take it on the road this year. And it's an exhausting undertaking!

Jessica Paxton: I was thinking to myself, first of all, you have, you know, such a prolific and extensive catalog of music. You know, you've said no repeats, three different nights, three different shows. How do you even begin to decide what you're going to play? You know, what do you leave out? What do you got to make sure you play? What are you like, "Oh, my God, we got to revisit that one. Are you kidding?" Like, how do you do it?

Jeff Tweedy: We don't … You don't have to leave out as much as you normally do.

Jessica Paxton: That is true.

Jeff Tweedy: But I started looking at the set list or thinking about them a couple months ago, honestly, and I think in Austin, Texas, we played 98 songs over the three shows.

Jessica Paxton: Wow.

Jeff Tweedy: Wilco tends to have a pretty vast repertoire at our fingertips most of the time, just because we tour a lot and we've never really stopped playing songs from older records, and we rehearse a lot on the road. We have a practice room set up every day, so we play every day, and a lot of times we're practicing songs that don't get played on the whole tour.

Jessica Paxton: Wow.

Jeff Tweedy: So a lot of stuff stays a little closer to the front of the mind than maybe if we were a band that didn't do that. It's just sort of fun. We enjoy kind of tweaking songs that were — I swear there are songs that we've only played in the practice room for years. And then this summer, we played Solid Sound [Festival in Massachusetts], we had a deep-cut night at Solid Sound where we only played like B-sides and things like that. And so some of those are actually filtering into these sets too.

Jessica Paxton: So definitely there will be some gold nuggets for those dedicated fans.

Jeff Tweedy: Or bathroom breaks for the casual fan.

Jessica Paxton: Well, you know, you do have a very dedicated and enthusiastic fan base, especially here in Minnesota. What is it about the Minnesota music scene and Minnesota audiences that we have embraced Wilco the way we have? Maybe it's a Midwest thing.

Jeff Tweedy: I think it's a Midwest thing. Well, I think it's the chicken comes first or the egg. I don't know which one. But I mean, I think I wouldn't be here without the music that came out of Minneapolis in the early '80s and late '70s. I love that music. We loved that music in Uncle Tupelo growing up. And I remember the first time we drove into town, we got a gig opening at the Uptown [Bar in Minneapolis, now closed]. 

Jessica Paxton: I was there.

Jeff Tweedy: Yeah, and I remember, we were driving in, we were like, "I wonder if we'll meet any Replacements?" And we walked in and Bob [Stinson, Replacements guitarist] was sitting there. 

Jessica Paxton: Wow, incredible time in the music Minnesota music scene. I feel like I wouldn't be here as a DJ or a host on The Current if not for that era in the Twin Cities.

Jeff Tweedy: Yeah, it was a music and a scene that I felt like it gave us permission to be Midwestern, to be ourselves … Punk rock had a code of, it felt like it had clothing required, you know? Like a dress code or something. We had no idea where you got boots like that and things; that seemed of a little out of our reach. But flannel shirts we had!  

Jessica Paxton: I had to wear a flannel shirt today in your honor.

Jeff Tweedy: Thank you.

Jessica Paxton: Well, you're very welcome. We're talking to Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco. Wilco in town for three nights this weekend, tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday night at the Palace Theatre, it's their Winterlude. You know, I read something that you were like, "Music is the sure cure for the winter blues," and I feel like that's true. Now, I don't know if you heard, I was saying before we went on air, you beat the super frigid temps, but we're in for a big snowstorm tonight.

Jeff Tweedy: Oh yeah?

Jessica Paxton: So what if you get, like, snowed in for five nights? Could it happen?

Jeff Tweedy: You mean, like, could we add two shows and really get down to the dregs of the catalog? Maybe. It would get pretty grim by Tuesday.

Jessica Paxton: By Tuesday. So I read something that at the age of seven, you decided, not that you want to be a songwriter, but that you are a songwriter. You had that sense of self actualization.

Jeff Tweedy: Yeah, I stumbled upon, I guess, what some people teach as a motivational tool, or the "fake it till you make it" kind of philosophy. But I think I was just lying. I think I was delusional, and my life is built on a lie. But it was a sweet deception. I think that there was something that seemed very, very empowering and attractive to me about being someone that could make music, make up music, make up stuff, you know?

Jessica Paxton: Absolutely, and I wouldn't even say it was a sweet deception. It is a sweet deception. And I think that sweet deception is what draws people to you and to your music. I mean, it's your introspective lyrics. Obviously, there's the innovative sound and experimentation of the band, but, you know, there's the emotional depth of your work. I feel like there's this kind of inherent melancholy, but then there's this warmth and wit and irony. You know, I think about even lyrics from "Hot Sun" on your new EP, Hot Sun Cool Shroud. You know, you're soaking up the sunshine, you're enjoying this beautiful moment, and then almost immediately, you have this existential crisis, like, “What can I do? What can I do?” You know, … it's genius. 

Jeff Tweedy: Well, thank you. I mean, everybody I know, I think, feels like that a lot lately; you know — like moments of joy feel somehow unearned or almost there's a punishing element to the way the world is interacting, and it disrupts, I think, even some moments of sincere bliss. And I'm trying really hard, and I think everybody should try really hard not to let that happen, I think, because if you let go of that, if you surrender that, if you like, put yourself in a cage where that's not OK, then there's really nothing worth fighting for, for anybody, to me. But it doesn't stop you from going, "God, it's really nice that it's really warm on December 2," or something like that, but I'm also a little scared, and I think a lot of people feel like that.

Jessica Paxton: Well, music can be such an incredible way to draw people together. And it's also, it's a shared language, it's a shared emotion. You turn to music for solace, but it can also be like a communal call to action. And I think that's kind of what you're saying.

Jeff Tweedy: Well, I think it is the action. In my opinion, it's like, it is the act of consolation. And, you know, it's a congregation. When people get together in a room and sweat next to each other, and—

Jessica Paxton: And are singing in unison, you know. 

Jeff Tweedy: ...lose themselves in a moment, a shared moment. That's like one of the things that we have left that that a robot isn't going to replace, or AI is not going to replace. You have to have a human element, I think, for a band like Wilco. One of the things that gives me some comfort is that I don't think a computer could mess up the way we mess up. I think it would be tough to fail in the same way that some musical moments fail. And by the same token, I think that that is actually what makes a sublime moment valuable. So I don't know. I just think that it's a worthy act in and of itself, and I'm really grateful that I would get to participate in it as much as I do.

Jessica Paxton: I'm so glad you mentioned the human element, because when you first came in, I had brought in my copy of How to Write One Song, one of several books that you've written, and in it, I love how you break down the songwriting process, how it is a process. It requires practice and persistence and patience, but it is also something that can be sparked by just being human, existing, living in the moment, being able to recognize that you're in the moment. And I love, too, that you talk about the human need to be creative and the human need to create. Does that sort of dictate how you carry yourself from day to day? 

Jeff Tweedy: I'm an advocate for spending time with your imagination on a daily basis. And you know, the word “practice,” for a lot of people, implies that you're going to get perfect at something. And I don't think that that's possible, but I do think that you get good at the things that you practice. And so if you have set up some sort of daily habit of spending time with your imagination, not being just passively entertained, but sort of actively engaged with your mind, you get good at it. And when you get good at something like that, you kind of take it into other areas in your life, and I think it helps you be a little bit more interested in the world, and I think that that's good. I think that a lot of people practice things without knowing that they get really good at that are really negative — you know, talking to themselves in negative ways. You get really good at that stuff, too.

Jessica Paxton: You're preaching to the choir right here.

Jeff Tweedy: And so I always think it's worthwhile to find things you can do that kill time and don't hurt anybody.

Jessica Paxton: I'll jot that down; that's pretty good. Well, I do think there's something about how life and music are intertwined, and how they kind of enhance each other and feed each other, and certainly that seems to be a common thread in your work and in the band's work. Again, we're talking to Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco. Wilco in town for three nights, tonight, tomorrow, night and Sunday night at the Palace Theatre in St Paul. It's an evening with Wilco, all three nights, no openers, just no repeats, three different shows, three incredible shows. So I've just got to ask, since you are in town for three nights, do you have any special haunts or special Twin Cities traditions? Or maybe you don't want to share those on air so you can remain somewhat incognito.

Jeff Tweedy: I'm a homebody to be honest; on the road, in particular. When you sing, do sound check, and then practice room, and then the two sets every night, I tend to use my voice a lot, and so I kind of avoid places where you have to talk loud. That's really the most boring answer you could give.

Jessica Paxton: No, actually, it makes perfect sense. 

Jeff Tweedy: Yeah, I finished a 700-page book on this trip already, so I think that that's where I end up. That's where I head.

Jessica Paxton: I know you are a voracious reader. I was going to ask you, what would be a book that would come to mind that you would say a must-read as a writer and reader yourself.

Jeff Tweedy: I mean, there's so much. There's just so much out there, it's just so vast. I tend to read older books, just because I just haven't caught up. I don't know a lot of modern fiction. There's something about it that just doesn't resonate the same way. I like being reminded that humans weren't that different a long time ago. Dead humans weren't that different, you know? People that are gone.

Jessica Paxton: Well, and again, it's that commonality. I mean, there's a thread that goes back 100 years, 200 years, 300 years, 3000 years. And you do get that opportunity to feel connected to humankind. You know, it's not just what's happening in 2024.

Jeff Tweedy: Yeah, yeah. I read a passage towards the end of The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann the other day. That's the book I just finished. Can I read a little bit of it?

Jessica Paxton: Absolutely, I think that'd be incredible.

Jeff Tweedy: It's kind of nuts to me that this is in a book from 1924. [Reads:]

What was in the air? A love of quarrels. Acute petulance. Nameless impatience. A universal penchant for nasty verbal exchanges and outbursts of rage, even for fisticuffs. Every day, fierce arguments, out-of-control shouting matches would erupt between individuals and among entire groups; but the distinguishing mark was that bystanders, instead of being disgusted by those caught up in it or trying to intervene, found their sympathies aroused and abandoned themselves emotionally to the frenzy.

Jessica Paxton: I literally got chills and a lump in my throat because it's spot on, and the fact that you use the word "fisticuffs." 

Jeff Tweedy: But it's, it just was like, oh, that's "Gee, that sounds like something that's happening."

Jessica Paxton: Yeah, yeah.

Jeff Tweedy: I was like, "Will we ever learn?" I don't know.

Jessica Paxton I don't know. I feel like that's a good and important way to conclude this conversation, because those are wise words to ponder. Jeff Tweedy, I really want to thank you for taking the time to come into The Current. I know you have sound check coming up in just a bit. Again, Wilco at the Palace Theatre tonight, tomorrow night, Sunday night. It's Wilco Weekend, all weekend long; we're going to be spinning Wilco on the hour.

Jeff Tweedy: Trademarked, by the way.

Jessica Paxton: Trademarked, absolutely, yeah, we're working on the little trademark symbol right now. I got to get more W's in there, too, for more alliteration.

Jeff Tweedy: Wilco's Winter Wonderland Weekend.

Jessica Paxton: Wowza. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you very, very much. Good luck with the shows this weekend. Lovely holiday season to you and your family. Safe travels to you in the band. And our thanks from everyone here at The Current and our listening audience as well. We are big, big fans of Mr. Jeff Tweedy and Wilco. 

Jeff Tweedy: I'm blushing. Thank you.

Jessica Paxton: He is. He is indeed, folks.

External Link

Wilco – official site