Tweedy

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Jeff & Spencer are "Tweedy." The Wilco frontman and his son join us for a special recording in front of a live audience at Chicago's Lincoln Hall.

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Last week, Irish rock band U2 invited itself into your home (or rather, your iTunes library) without a formal invitation. In a shrewd distribution move by the band, U2 partnered with technology giant Apple to share its new album Songs of Innocence for free with its 500 million iTunes users. Apple reportedly paid the band $100 million dollars for the honor, which Jim and Greg know is a better sum than Bono and company would receive through traditional sales. So far, 33 million people have accessed Songs of Innocence, but not everyone was excited about their free gift--prompting Apple to release an official "removal tool." Jim can't help but laugh, wishing he had this tool from the beginning of his on-again, off-again relationship with U2.

Tweedy

This past July, Sound Opinions took the show out of the WBEZ studios and in front of a live audience at Chicago's Lincoln Hall. The impetus for a field trip? Tweedy, the new project by Wilco lead singer and founder Jeff Tweedy. The band features Jeff on vocals and guitar, Jeff's 18-year-old son Spencer Tweedy on drums, Liam Cunningham on keyboards, Jim Elkington on guitars & Darrin Gray on bass. Jeff and Spencer spoke with Jim and Greg about how the 20 song album, Sukierae, came together after Spencer played drums on One True Vine, the Jeff Tweedy-produced album by Mavis Staples. In fact, Spencer calls Mavis another "Grandma." Sukierae came at a much-needed time for the Tweedy family; Jeff's wife, Sue Miller, began her fight against lymphoma. And her nickname provides the album its title. So what is it like to tour with your dad and play actual "Dad Rock"? What happens if Spencer dates a Wilco fan? And when can we expect new Wilco music from the now-20-year-old band? Tune in for answers to those questions, plus songs from the new record.

Dear Listeners,

For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!