Chit-Chat Check-In #162 • Transcript
Wilco just finished up a Solid Sound Festival, the festival in Western Massachusetts that we have every other year. Which I’m sure most of you are aware of. That’s why I didn’t post anything last week, and I hope to make that up to everyone with a double post. Or maybe even—I don’t want to get too crazy—a triple post some week in the near future.
It was really fun. It went really, really well. Better than I could ever dream. On Friday night we played Mermaid Avenue material with Billy Bragg. A lot of songs that we haven’t played in 28 years, or something like that. We finally made a set out of all that material. We did a show we never got to do. The truly beautiful and touching part of it was that Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter, was there with a whole sea of Guthries. Grandchildren, great-grandchildren. And they all got up on stage with us and sang with us.
We did all of this in front of a giant backdrop that we had commissioned of Woody’s hand-written lyrics and drawings. Some of our Starship crew helped facilitate that. Everybody is really involved in Solid Sound. It’s one of the things I feel the most proud of having put together, collaborated on, in my life. It’s the full extension, to me, of what Wilco’s all about, more than any one record, or any one song, or any one show. It’s an artistic statement to me. It encompasses a philosophy that I think is meaningful, and more meaningful than any of the records or individual songs. Just a belief in community, a belief in spirit, a belief in creativity, collaboration. A belief in beauty. A belief in decency. A belief that joy is defiant, and essential, in any kind of situation where you’re actively resisting destructive powers.
I think Woody represented that quite remarkably, also. He was very active, very political, as we all know. Also, he was a rascal. And joyous, and curious about the world. He liked people.
So, anyway, if you were there, thank you so much. I think it’s an amazing community that you’ve helped form, and it makes us really, really proud and appreciative of all of you.
For me, one of the most poignant moments, aside from having Nora Guthrie there, his daughter, was singing “Another Man’s Done Gone.” Which has the lyric “I feel like this scribbling might stay.” I was singing that in front of a giant backdrop of Woody’s handwritten lyrics. And he was right. It was poignant to feel that. To have that visual to be able to point to while singing that lyric. It was just very powerful.
It was also the song that I picked to talk about Jay Bennett a little bit before I sang it. Because, sadly, he’s no longer with us. He was in my thoughts a lot, rehearsing all this material. We all wish that he were still around and could have joined us in a celebration of that body of work. He had a big hand in making that record and helping write a lot of those songs. And, you know, it was probably one of the best parts of my relationship, musically, with Jay, and as a friend. Before things got harder, the way things tend to get harder for people that are using substances. And the way that things tend to get harder for people in bands together that don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye.
I sincerely, deeply wish that Jay could have been around to, at least, sing together. I really mourn that not being possible. It would have been very nice, and I truly believe it would have been possible after all of this time. Time tends to sort things out between old friends and people that have shared something intimate, like making this music.
It felt really good to have a crowd of that size acknowledge him along with me, and sing this song. I wanted to make sure that everybody was still thinking about him, and let everybody know that I do. You know, what can you do but keep people in your thoughts and keep singing their songs?
OxO—Jeffy
This Week in Wilco, Etc.
1998 / June 29: Wilco and Billy Bragg appear on The Late Show with David Letterman and perform “California Stars” from the Mermaid Avenue album.
2024 / June 29: Jeff guests with Water From Your Eyes on “When You’re Around” during their Solid Sound set. Later that night, Wilco plays the entire A Ghost Is Born album, as well as debuting “Annihilation” and “Say You Love Me” live from the Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP. Macie Stewart from Finom sits in on “Say You Love Me.”
2023 / July 4: Jeff shares his cover of “America” by Simon & Garfunkel on Starship Casual. The track is later released on Starship Casual: Orbit Two (dBpm Records).
Another Man's Done Gone
