Chit-Chat Check-In #154 • Transcript
Hello from Fort Wayne, Indiana. I’m about to start a tour with Wilco.
I haven’t been thinking about Wilco songs for a while because I’ve been out with the Tweedy band, so all of these songs look somewhat unfamiliar to me. Just kidding. They all look very, very doable.
Including this one, “Quiet Amplifier.” Which maybe should have always been an acoustic song, considering its lyrical content. But that was actually kind of the point of it building, getting louder and louder. The original arrangement on Ode to Joy, and the way we play it live, honors that lyric being undermined.
To me, it’s a sentiment that I feel quite often. I love really loud music. My favorite music in the world is built upon that necessity for volume. But at the same time, I think there’s something very unsettling and intense about quiet music. There are definitely periods when I just want to whisper. I want people to lean in and get closer to me. It’s an intimate thing that I’m trying to express, a lot of times.
But this is how “Quiet Amplifier” would sound if you were hanging out with me.
Carry on. OxO—Jeffy
This Week in Wilco, Etc.
2018 / April 20: Jeff plays the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, NC. Finom (then known as Ohmme) opens and also guests on “Ain’t No Doubt About It” and “California Stars.” Earlier in the set Gary Louris from The Jayhawks also sits in on “Radio King” and “Pecan Pie.”
2023 / April 22: Wilco plays the Avondale Brewing Company in Birmingham, AL, and Jeff shares a cover of Randy Newman’s song “Birmingham” on Starship Casual.
2014 / April 24: Jeff appears as Scott Tanner on Parks And Recreation (Season 6, Episodes 21 and 22).
Quiet Amplifier (solo acoustic)
