Tour Q&A
Back on the bus, reading about the Peloponnesian War
Spencer and I have some answers to your questions here. These were really thoughtful and lovely questions, as usual, from the Starship Casual clients. We really appreciate it, including the questions we couldn’t get to.
OxO—Jeffy
Andrew: Wondering what it’s like traveling with your kid not as a family member, but as a fellow musician. Is the dynamic any different?
JT: Not really. I think of Spencer as a fellow musician, on and off the stage, and on and off tour. It might be weirder for him, traveling with his father. Am I cramping your style?
ST: Not at all. I have no style.
Matt Schilling: Question for Spencer: I really enjoyed reading Mirror Sound. Are there any thoughts of continuing that narrative either in print or online?
ST: We did explore that for a few years after the release of Mirror Sound, and nothing came together. But it’s certainly something to think about. We even tossed around pitches for video things, a TV show type thing. As of now, no plans, but I’m just so glad the book exists as a resource for people to feel validated in their home recording processes.
Lori Keller: On the road question: when you are away, what home-cooked meal do you miss most?
Dede: Sub question, do you have any sort of kitchen space on the road and if so what is your favorite on the road home cooked meal to cook, cuz I mean, if u have a burner u can make a quality meal if u know what yer doin' 👩🍳😊
JT: I would say that I like making myself peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Is that a problem?
Dusty Petersen: What is the context of that [Jeff holding an alligator] photo? How’d it come to be that you’re holding that gem?
JT: I’m not sure. One of the things the promoters and our tour manager have figured out over a long, long period, as the band has grown in stature and we can ask for things—I think everybody really likes having a visit with an animal. Sometimes local shelters do that with puppies, and we help them get adopted. That’s happened once or twice. In general, we always get a heads up if one of the people who works at the venue has a dog or a puppy. And it just so happened to be an alligator this time. And I was not the one who taped his mouth shut. He came like that. I’m not complaining. I felt bad for him, but I think it’s probably prudent.
ST: It is probably prudent. And it probably doesn’t pain him. Although I must say it’s hard to see.
JT: He’s smiling.
ST: Sometimes that makes me sadder.
JT: I know.
Michelle: When and how did you learn how to play the harmonica?
JT: Everybody knows how to play the harmonica. They just haven’t tried it yet. If you don’t know how to play the harmonica, it’s because you haven’t had one pressed against your face. It’s just like just breathing in and breathing out. Harmonicas are tuned. As long as you have the right harmonica for the key you’re in, it’s hard to play a wrong note. It sounds a lot more tricky than it is. It’s the nature of the instrument. I don’t think I play the harmonica well, especially when you weigh it against the way that really great people play the harmonica.
ST: I disagree. I think you’re very good on it.
JT: That’s very nice. All I know is that there were some harmonica ideas on the last Tweedy band show we did. Sammy had never played a harmonica before, and literally, ten seconds later he was playing the part. It’s not an exaggeration. And I don’t mean to make someone feel bad if they’ve tried it and it didn't work—I think it’s probably more likely that they just had the wrong harmonica.
ST: Plus, anyone who has spent forty years of their life figuring out how to play well ... obviously that’s not unwarranted, that effort.
JT: No, no ... everyone can play the harmonica, but only a handful of people can play the harmonica well. And to me, they’ve wasted their lives.
Fred Wee: With the expanded TWL out now I fell back into fondness for “One Sunday Morning.” Where did the parenthetical portion of the title come from?
JT: I actually know Jane Smiley’s boyfriend. I don't know if he’s still her boyfriend. I haven’t seen them in a long, long time. But I sat next to him at a dinner one time and he related a story that’s not exactly the story in the song, but a similar type of feeling about a father who wasn’t particularly fond of his lifestyle. He actually did say that when his father passed away—I hope I’m not over-sharing something, you don’t know his name, anyway—but he said very emotionally, sort of a tear in his eye. He said, “I’m just relieved that he knows he was wrong. That I’m good. That I’m not going to hell.” He thinks his father would have learned, more in line with his belief system, that the universe is made of love, and there’s no heaven or hell, that we’re all flawed and trying. And I thought that was really poignant and beautiful.
Patrick O’Connor: I discovered that I can play AND sing “Love is the King.” No idea why. But here’s my question: I find that song so moving, I sometimes struggle not to choke up when I sing the lines “Life isn’t fair… Love is the king,” and it makes me wonder if there are songs (either yours or another artist’s) that move you so much that you sometimes struggle to get through them without getting emotional. Or is that just a matter of being a professional performer? (note: same thing happens with “I Know What it’s Like”)
JT: I will say that almost any song that means something to me at a certain moment might be hard for me to get out without crying. I think that songs are so powerful that even a Ramones song can make me cry. Or something as joyous as a B-52s song can fill me with an overwhelming emotion. I just love all of it, so much. Embarrassingly, a lot of my own songs, on a night-to-night basis. Lately we’ve been playing the song “Quiet Amplifier” and I choke up almost every night. “I’ve tried, in my way, to love everyone.” It feels like an admission in front of a big crowd, and it feels very sincere to me.
Maybe not most of the time, but a lot of the time, people are doing the best they can do, but that best is not very good. And that’s for many, many reasons. Troubles with their own mental health, their own addictions, their own upbringing, their own information diet ... not to make excuses. I think people should strive to be better. And to me, that would be key to things not being so dismal. For there to be a culture that actually rewards curiosity and growth. That rewards people trying harder. And I feel like we’re kind of in a place where society is rewarding people for not trying. And I think that’s terrible.
But one-on-one, it’s always a little bit eye-opening to come into contact with another human. In real life. Coming into contact with them on the internet, it’s like driving past each other in a car. You have about as much sense of who they are as if you just passed by them on the highway.
Dara Weyna: Question for Spencer: Is it a full circle kind of moment to be drumming in a band that’s on tour with your Wilco family? It’s always so fun to see you and Sammy on stage with your Dad, but this must feel different somehow, I’d imagine. It’s a beautiful thing to witness the many collaborations, connections and relationships that Wilco makes and fosters and something’s tells me you’re a big part of that.
ST: It does feel great, and I feel like the luckiest human being in the world that we’re doing this.
JT: Awwww.
ST: And that I get to see Wilco every night, and ...
JT: Oh, brother.
ST: Honestly, it’s true! The weirdest part about it is being in a group that’s even compatible with a Wilco support slot. That’s really exciting to me. I love playing with Katie, it’s such a great group of people that we’re getting to do this with. Anything more well-spoken that I have to say about it is leaving my mind because a Mountain Dew ad is on the TV. But it feels really great. The coolest part is that I feel proud. Sometimes friends from a different part of your life get to see your other friends or your family, or visit you at work or something. You see it through their eyes, and sometimes that doesn’t feel good. But I feel really relieved, though not surprised, that the whole Waxahatchee band seems to sincerely love Wilco as a band, and love them as a touring group.
JT: As an operation.
ST: As an operation that does this thing that we do. And that makes me feel really good. And even if they weren’t expressing any of their admiration, or anything like that, I know just from that feeling of seeing yourself through your friends’ eyes, or seeing your family through their eyes, I’d already be feeling proud and not embarrassed. And I’m very glad that that’s the case. And I know it sounds like I’m saying it because I’m sitting across from my dad, but I’m not.
JT: Thanks, honey. Is it kind of like when you go to a friend’s house and you go, “Oh, I can see why they spend a lot of time here.” Or instead, “Oh wow, now I know why they want to come over to my house all the time.”
ST: Oh I have one more thing! My dad was talking about cramping my style. All I could think about for the first three days of this tour was that I’m cramping my dad’s style.
JT: What’s my style? Go play the show and then I’m back on the bus reading about the Peloponnesian War?
ST: There are a lot of readers on this bus. Wilco and Waxahatchee. My bandmate is reading a six-hundred-page history of the Civil War right now.
JT: I saw another one of the guys from Waxahatchee reading, and I said the Bill Hicks line, "What are you reading for?" And he said, "Oh, it’s a book about ..." He had no frame of reference. If you don't know the bit, it’s a pretty funny bit. I think it’s kind of mean-spirited at the end, toward a Waffle House waitress. But it’s still pretty funny.
ST: Thank you, everybody.
JT: Bye, carry on.
This Week in Wilco, Etc.
1997 / May 5: Wilco plays a 28-song set at La Luna in Portland, OR. The set features two versions of “Passenger Side” and covers of “Dueling Banjos” by Eric Weissberg and “Color Me Impressed” by the Replacements. Bettie Serveert opens.
2020 / May 5: On The Tweedy Show #42 Jeff debuts the song “Even I Can See.” It is released on Love Is The King on dBpm Records.
2015 / May 8: Steve Gunn opens for Wilco at the Iroquois Amphitheater in Louisville, KY. Wilco plays a 31-song set including rare outings for “Camera,” “Panthers,” and “Secret of the Sea.”
Such a delightful read. A contemporary father-son love story augmented by music and life on the road. Warm fuzzies for all!
It delights me how sweet your family is. Too rare.