The ticket, poster, and marquee all say “Jeff Tweedy.” But what’s coming to the Wilma April 7 is much more than that. A six-piece band, for one thing. But also a collaboration, an artistic practice and a family, both literally and figuratively.
The group that made Tweedy’s latest album, Twilight Override, is often informally referred to as “the Tweedy Family Band,” and not just because its members include Jeff and Susan Miller Tweedy’s sons, drummer Spencer Tweedy and vocalist (and keyboardist/percussionist) Sammy Tweedy. Guitarist Liam Kazar and bassist Sima Cunningham are siblings who have known the Tweedys almost their entire life, while Cunningham’s longtime bandmate in Finom, multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart, has known them all since high school.
“The familiarity of this band is really a beautiful thing,” says Cunningham. “We all have just been playing so much music together. Spencer, in particular, has been playing in all of our projects for many years. And Jeff has obviously been a figure of inspiration for all of our life. We’re Chicago kids that came up and were massively influenced by Wilco. So we don’t take for granted how special it is. I feel grateful that we all evolved into musicians that he really felt comfortable with, and then he also wanted to collaborate with.”
The trio’s work ethic, and shared pursuit of the creative life, is something they picked up not just from Tweedy, but also their own parents, who are either artists (both professionally or for-its-own sake) or extremely art-supporting. Cunningham and Kazar’s mother is a painter with, Kazar says, a diligent and driven daily practice, their father is also a musician, and Stewart’s mother is a longtime working piano player. For each of them, as Kazar puts it, “that made the artist lifestyle seem approachable, or not such a far-off….”
“Mystery,” his sister interjects.
“Dream,” Liam finishes..
“We started playing music at a really young age knowing that, if that’s something that we wanted to do, we want to do it all the time,” says Stewart.
On the Twilight Override tour, the three non-Tweedys also take turns as the opening act (it’s Stewart in Missoula, Kazar in Great Falls April 8, and Cunningham in Bozeman April 9). Stewart’s most recent record, When the Distance Is Blue, features prepared piano and strings, so she’s mostly doing songs from her 2021 album Mouthful of Glass, plus a bit of new material. She and her bandmate Cunningham also join each other for the last song of each other’s sets. It’s all a change of pace from both the avant-pop noise of Finom, and from Kazar’s full-band records (he recently released his second album, Pilot Light, and will be going right back on the road opening for Cut Worms and then Kevin Morby — with whom he also plays — a week after this tour ends).
“We’re all living in the ethos and simplicity of a songwriter with a guitar,” says Cunningham. “On very different music, and very different iterations of that. Very simple. But it’s been really nice to have this rotation going, and really thoughtful of Jeff to use this spot to highlight our own thing, while we’re also supporting the thing that we made with him.”
It’s a band with a nearly-unlimited quiver, both musically and vocally, with all five members adding harmonies, as well as the occasional lead on cover songs.
Jeff Tweedy often goes out solo acoustic, and has released five records under his own name since 2017. Before that, there was 2014’s Sukierae, a double album credited to “Tweedy,” which was made entirely by Jeff and Spencer (with a little help from Scott McCaughey and Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius). The line-up then came to include guitarist James Elkington and bassist Darin Gray, as well as Kazar on keyboards and guitar. That group — which played the Top Hat in 2015 — felt a bit more like a “backing band.” But as its members changed and played more shows, “the Tweedy band” evolved into a standing-on-its-own live unit, and something lasting in its own right.
Of course, Tweedy is both prolific enough and creatively restless enough to have two bands that do two different things without having to shut down one or the other. Imagine if Wings had existed at the same time as the Beatles, or Robert Plant was doing what he does now while still fronting Led Zeppelin. Twilight Override — which is a triple album, by the way — even received a (slightly) higher Pitchfork score (8.0) than any of the last eight Wilco albums.
It was a group effort, with all the players given full creative trust. Stewart says that whenever somebody suggested an arrangement or a part, there was never a “no, we’re not doing that,” from Tweedy (whom they’ve also worked with as Finom’s producer). It’s a band with a nearly-unlimited quiver, both musically — Cunningham refers to Stewart as “the can do anything human,” but everybody plays two or three instruments — and vocally, with all five members adding harmonies, as well as the occasional lead on cover songs, which are regionally specific.
That practice began with Michael Hurley’s “Slurf Song” in Burlington, Vermont, after which they decided it would be a nightly thing. Among the highlights since (to name just a few) were Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” in Boston, a magisterial “Don’t Fear The Reaper” on Long Island (a distinct location from New York City!), Perfume Genius in Iowa and Jacques Brel’s “Ne me quitte pas” (by way of Nina Simone) in Paris.
In Switzerland, what they thought would be a brilliant choice — “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music — went over like a busted snowshoe, but the one they imagined would be more left-field — “Eisbär” by Grauzone — had fans jumping out of their seats to rush the stage and sing along. (See The Pulp’s story from last Friday for a few Montana possibilities. And here’s one more: Kazar brought up the fact that David Lynch is from Missoula).
The covers build the band’s bond further, challenging them to figure out new things, with utter confidence that everyone can pull it off. There’s also a certain near-clairvoyance that comes with being friends and family. “There’s an innate language that happens when we’re all playing together,” says Stewart. “I feel like we have this ability to know where someone’s gonna go — what someone can do, and how someone wants to stretch out.”
Kazar says that the tour is also a showcase for Jeff Tweedy, Guitar Hero. As any Wilco nerd can tell you, Jeff is a ferocious and intriguing solo-taker (see: A Ghost Is Born, where he was Wilco’s sole guitar player) who understandably takes a back seat to Nels Cline and Pat Sansone while shouldering the Wilco frontman load. In previous versions of the solo band, James Elkington (who still played on Twilight Override) was also the main slinger. Now Kazar, who’d moved to bass when Gray left, is on guitar, and Tweedy plays more leads. “He’s never had the role of a guitar player in the way that he has it in this band right now, and on this tour in particular,” Kazar says.
In addition to being so prolific, Tweedy also works his ass off, especially after having double hip-replacement surgery in 2024. Instead of taking a break from Wilco, he released a triple album. And instead of taking a break after playing 51 cities (including a few two-night stands) with this band, he’ll go back out with Wilco two weeks later, touring for a good part of the spring and summer. It’s just who he is, and who all his bandmates are as well.
“It’s very inspiring to work with Jeff, especially at this moment in his life,” says Cunningham. “He always has been so in love with music. But I think he is really relishing it at this moment. He’s talked about this in interviews — music is his way of combating the darkness of what’s going on in the world. Just being, like, this is what I know how to do. Create. Keep putting good things out in the world.”
As Tweedy puts it in “Feel Free” from Twilight Override:
Feel free
Make a record with your friends
Sing a song that never ends
Feel free
“‘Feel Free’ always gets the waterworks going for the whole band,” says Cunningham.
Jeff Tweedy plays The Wilma with opener Macie Stewart Tue., April 7, with doors at 6:30 PM and show at 7:30 PM. $60 – $71. All ages. Tickets and more info.
