Oh, I could only dream of the dreams we’d have,
how our hearts would be entwined,
if you would let me be the one
to open up your mind.
-Jeff Tweedy, lyrics from Open Your Mind
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And speaking of September 27th releases...
The unraveling of the alternative country band Uncle Tupelo, in 1994, left an ensemble of talented musicians to grapple with what next. But singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy swiftly gathered the same musicians, minus Jay Farrar, and knotted together the band known as Wilco (an acronym for two-way radio voice procedure). Tweedy, Wilco's mercurial frontman, tours occasionally on his own and is especially brilliant when he does so. As in this performance:
[Joy of joys—the lyrics to Open Your Mind, along with the chords, can be found here! And they're all pretty simple chords except for that dang A minor, but yes! I am warming up the banjo.]
It's impossible not to hear the influence of early country and folk genres, as well as punk and alternative rock, and artists like Neil Young (for whom Wilco has opened), Johnny Cash and Tommy Stinson in Tweedy's songs, nor see the pilferage of classic literature in his pure, honest lyrics. With the Chicago based Wilco, Tweedy's music assumes a thick, bittersweet consistency—the likes of which he deftly jars—such as this emotive, demon-filled, uh... um... ballad:
Here, Tweedy spills out his weighty contents once again:
More about Wilco, from Wikipedia, here. Wilco's The Whole Love, to be released September 27, 2011, can also be found in that overgrown, thicketed jungle if you hack your way here. Seriously, bring your machete.
