Wico - Summerteeth
On this weeks episode, we take a listen to the third album by Wilco, 1999’s Summerteeth.
Wilco rose from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo trying to find its footing in the shadow of Son Volt, the band Jay Farrar founded. Wilco lead singer and main songwriter Jeff Tweedy had the vision of letting multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett play just about any keyboard he could get his hands on while he and the rest of the band provided strong backing that let the songs sound like pop tunes from another time, even though lyrics could be dark and, in some cases, disturbing. While a transitional album for the band that portends what is to come, it stands on its own and contains some of Tweedy’s most compelling (and catchy) songwriting.
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
Before Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar, and Mike Heidorn embraced punk infused country musics in Uncle Tupelo, they were in a band called the Primitives with Farrar’s older brother Wade on lead vocals. Here’s the band performing the song “Psycho” during a Halloween show in 1985.
Early Uncle Tupelo promo picture.
Pictured (L to R): (l-r) Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn, and Jay Farrar.
The five-piece Uncle Tupelo from 1993:
Pictured (L to R): (l-r) John Stirratt, Jay Farrar, Ken Coomer, Jeff Tweedy and Max Johnston
Here is Uncle Tupelo, augmented with the Bottle Rockets, playing the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic “Gimmie Two Steps.” It was the last song the band would perform live.
Enter Jay Bennett. When Bennett joined Wilco for the tour supporting A.M., Tweedy found a perfect partner to help more the band away from their “Alternative County” sound and into a much broader musical pallette .
In early 1998, in between beginning the recording process for Summerteeth in Texas and finishing up the album in Chicago, Wilco collaborated with Billy Bragg on a project based on previously unused lyrics by Woody Guthrie. The resulting Mermaid Avenue was released on in June of 1998.
Here is Wilco and Billy Bragg performing “California Stars” off of that album on the German TV show Rockpalast in 2010.
In August of 1999, This Is Vinyl Tap’s very own Jonathan “JM” Roe saw Wilco open for REM in San Antonio for the only Texas show on the tour. Wilco played several songs from Summerteeth.
Originally recorded in a simpler form, “Can’t Stand It,” the lead track off Summerteeth, was remixed at the urging of the suits at Reprise to make it “more radio friendly.”
Here’s the band performing the tune on The Tonight Show in 1999.
Wilco perfoms “ELT” in April 1999.
