Jeff handed over the reins this week...big mistake. (Mark and I, we like to yap.)
Jeff claims he’ll never play “Country Roads” again after performing it live at Solid Sound a couple of weeks ago, so I tracked down the audio to share with all of you. Between this pseudo-Solid Sound recap; Wilco playing Wheeling, WV this week; AND the near constant “Take Me Home”-ing happening during the World Cup, it feels almost TOO topical. But I have the passwords and I can’t be stopped.
Also included below is a performance of Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” from the Solid Sound stage, which I’ve listened to approximately 40 times already. There was a lot happening, but I believe the credits, between the two performances, include: Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline, Glenn Kotche, John Stirratt, Pat Sansone, Mikael Jorgensen, Spencer and Sammy Tweedy, Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart, Liam Kazar, Ella Feingold, Amelia Meath, Hannah Cohen, and Sam and Louise Sullivan. You’ll find both songs underneath Mark’s GEAR TALKIN’ below, which I encourage you to read even if you don’t care about guitars, because he’s funny.
What is there to say about Solid Sound that hasn’t already been said? Mermaids, Yo-Yos, a gaggle of Guthries?! Are we dreaming or did that happen? Here are a few of my favorite photos so far; they say more than I ever could. These images, alongside the songs, capture the spirit of the festival juuuuussssst right. Wilco World firing on all cylinders to create a magical, cozy event Every Other Summer.
-Crystal
GEAR TALKIN’™ #23: Competition Finishes
Music is not a competition. It’s an art. It’s not like a war or a fight. Or like most sports, where the whole point is a zero-sum game, where winning is only defined by losing. Where the winner is dependent on a loser. Art, on the otherhand, is ever-expanding, like the universe itself, with limitless new frontiers to explore and question, and with possibilities for unending growth, understanding, and emotion.
That all said…. do you like racing stripes?! I want to tell you about a short moment in Fender Musical Instruments’s history when they offered fun, reflection-of-the-times “Competition” racing stripe finishes.
Since its inception, one of Fender’s big focuses has been making guitars and basses (and amps!) that would be comfortable in smaller hands, ones that were just starting their journey into the devil’s music. Lock them in early! These gateway instruments had names like Duo-Sonic, Bronco, Mustang, and Musicmaster. Even the Jazzmaster-like Jaguar with its 24” scale is considered short scale as compared to Fender’s more standard 25.5” scale.
These shorter scale “student models” had smaller spaces between frets to help those tiny fingers get around; less tension on the strings, for ease of playing for those little weaklings; and in some cases, even had extra special paint finishes aimed at things kids love… like racing stripes! Yes, for about four years starting in 1969 (the Speed Racer/Evel Knievel era), Fender added a few new “Competition” racing stripe finish options to their catalog, copping the look and feel of car racing and popular sports cars of the day. There was Competition Blue (sometimes listed as “Competition Burgundy” due to an unfortunate error in that year’s catalog) with light blue stripes, Competition Red with white stripes, Competition Orange with red stripes, as well as a short-lived and very rare Competition Yellow, which darkened with age and exposure and ended up looking much like Competition Orange. All these came with matching headstock finishes, making them look like fancier factory-custom colors, which they sorta were.
Those of you who joined us in North Adams, MA last week for the ninth iteration of our Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA hopefully made it to the very end to see the wonderful and celebratory Jeff Tweedy & Friends set that closed out the weekend. If not, two of the songs from that performance are below. If so, you most surely saw a beautifully pregnant Sima Cunningham killing it on bass… which happens to be finished in Competition Red.
This Week in Wilco, Etc.
2010 / July 7: Jeff plays Veranos de la Villa summer festival in Madrid, Spain. During the 25-song set he covers The Handsome Family and Bob Dylan. The show also includes “I’ll Fight,” “Someday Some Morning Sometime,” and “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard.”
2023 / July 10: Jeff shares a video of Wilco rehearsing “The Weight” with Mavis Staples and Nick Lowe on Starship Casual in honor of Mavis’s birthday.
2000 / July 11: Wilco opens for Natalie Merchant, playing a 14-song set at Pier 6 Concert Pavilion in Baltimore, MD.
Country Roads (John Denver cover)
