Chit-Chat Check-In #127 • Transcript
I’ve only really thought of one word to express what I feel about the Outlaw Festival tour we’ve been on, and that’s “profound.”
It’s profound to watch Willie Nelson at 92 years old singing to an audience of thousands of people, “I’m the last leaf on the tree,” looking very much like he could blow away at any moment.
It’s profound to watch Bob Dylan defiantly present his music as if he’s inventing it again every night.
And then Lucinda. Watching her play whatever the hell she wants to play, standing there, night by night, recovering the best part of herself after her stroke, is profound. She looks and sounds better every time I see her.
All three of them show what I believe is the best about the idea of America. They underline how important it is for people to see radically individuated self-expression. It fills us with wonder and joy, and provokes thought, and gives us some moments free of care. They carry on a sort of eternal song of America—which grew out of a type of music invented by some of the least free members of our culture.
The other thing that’s apparent to an audience watching this tour, with Bob Dylan and Willie at top of the bill: these guys are getting old. It’s just something you think about every night. You think about their mortality, our mortality, my mortality…
Then I went for a hike a few days ago, and the first song that came on was “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan. God, I wanted to sing it to them. I think that song is meant to be sung to a young person. But holy shit, are all three of those people forever young. I’m grateful.
Carry on. OxO—Jeffy
This Week in Wilco, Etc.
2011 / August 4: Jeff appears at the Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu, HI with Pat Sansone opening. It’s Jeff's first-ever performance in Hawaii, and Pat joins in for six songs at the end of Jeff’s 25-song set.
2002 / August 8: Jeff plays a 7-song set at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis, MN. He’s joined by Kraig Johnson and Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum for “Pecan Pie” as well as Jessy Greene on violin. Jessy has played with the Jayhawks and Foo Fighters, among others, and also appeared on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
1997 / August 9: Wilco is on the bill at X-Fest at Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville, IN, along with Sugar Ray, Matchbox Twenty, Better Than Ezra, and many other bands.
Forever Young (Bob Dylan cover)
