August 14, 2025 • 9 mins
I always like speaking with Jeff Tweedy! He's a smart, creative guy. The Wilco frontman called to discuss his upcoming solo album, Artificial Intelligence and how audiences differ from city to city.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Brett. This is my podcast and I welcome you
to it. This time around, my guest is Jeff Tweety,
the leader of the innovative band Will co Jeff is
also releasing a massive solo album called Twilight Override on
September twenty sixth. It's always good to talk with Jeff
Tweety on the Brett Sonders Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, how's it going? Thanks you, Thanks for having us.
We're always excited to be back.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's only one of the best bands I've ever seen
in my life live Will COO. And I understand that
you had an epic show in Chicago last night. That's
what your management told me. What is it? Epic? A
great show for you in tail? What is it? Is
it a communication with the audience? What is it?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It was just a nice it is this beautiful night
and big enthusiastic crowd, hometown crowd, and you know we
did we did a pretty long set because we actually
did two sets, which we've been doing lately when we
do evening with shows and we don't have an opener,
but we up playing a lot more material and able
(01:03):
to get to some stuff in our catalog we don't
normally get to on a normal night.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, you have a phenomenal catalog at this point. I've
been spending a lot of time with that Ghost Is
Born box set that came out. You're a powerhouse, Jeff,
tweety Well.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Times are tough all over.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You have this album coming out. It's called Twilight Override.
It'll be out on September the twenty sixth. It's a
triple album. I've heard about a third of it and
I love it. Do you find yourself, Jeff, more productive
as a way of dealing with the state of the world,
So this gives you something to focus on?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I think so. I mean, I think everybody leans on
music as a consolation, you know, and even if I
wasn't making records and making writing songs, I mean, ever
since I was a little kid, I think it's in
my primary source of consolation and a way to cope
(02:06):
with internal crises and discomfort, and certainly as that spills
over into the broader picture and those anxieties reach you
from outside, I think it's a It's a pretty healthy
place to spend some time as you can.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, I ask because I think a lot of the
great creatives in the world are particularly prolific right now,
and psychologically, I think that can be very helpful for
the artist and of course for the audience too. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I mean it's it's you know, our imaginations are what's
going to be required to fix things, put things back together,
and our imaginations are going to be required to generate
hope and reject the things that we want to reject
and picture something better. You know, I don't so. Yeah,
(03:07):
engaging and in that side of how our brains work
and being visible to each other as individuals and all
that stuff is helpful. I mean, it's a it's a
liberating thing. It's a self liberating thing rock and roll
(03:28):
is to me, So you know, I don't see any
reason not to put more of it out into the world.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
You mentioned imagination. Jeff, what are your thoughts on artificial
intelligence at this juncture? It's getting kind of scary.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, yeah, I can see a lot of people being
afraid of the implications of what it might be capable
of or look like and you know, coming at us
really fast. I tend to take some comfort in the
knowledge that a rock concert is going to be hard
(04:06):
to put into a digital world. The feeling of being
next to someone else in a crowd, and I don't know,
just enjoying being a part of a congregation. All of
that stuff is not going to be easy to replicate,
and maybe it becomes more and more essential for people,
(04:29):
you know, to have that kind of community that you
can't get in the digital realm. At the same time,
I think that, you know, when I think about Wilka,
what we're doing up there, I don't. I mean, I
defy a computer scientists to program something to up the
way we're going.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
To so it's will co versus the robots, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, sorry, but sorry from a up but I guess
this is taped. You can bleep that.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Right, Sure, consider that taken care of. As will Go
travels from city to city, do you find the crowds
different from place to place?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I mean there are certain places that have nurtured
an audience to be an audience. I think of San
Francisco like that. I do think of Colorado that way,
because venues like Red Rocks and Mission Ballroom, I think
encourage a certain type of concert going, and I think
(05:32):
that they probably get a disproportionate amount of great shows
because I think bands are excited to play venues like that.
So yeah, that all contributes to, you know, an audience
kind of I don't know, being a cut above in
a lot of cases. You know, there's other things that
(05:53):
are factors that I have to I think way more
on what I can anticipate a crowd to be like.
And that's like days of the week. Sure, yeah, and
you know, seats versus a general admission floor, you know,
things like that. But yeah, I would say that the
Colorado audiences have been elite over the years.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I want to move on to baseball. Before I let
you go, Jeff Tweety, you've thrown out the first pitch
at every ballpark in the National League Central Division? Would
you like to expand that? I'm curious have Do you
feel like you've conquered that one thing or are you
going to continue to do this with different parts of
the league.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I think I'm going to go division by division if
I can. I would like to. Yeah, I don't know.
I think that I probably would start with the AL
Central because we have a you know, because of the
White Sox, so i'd have a you know, ame hometown
used to start.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
My last one was kind of in the dirt. I
had a little heat on it, but it was in
the dirt. Was pretty embarrassing. I phone a lot. I
phone a fair amount of strikes. I took it. I
was shuborous. I thought I had it. I had it.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Listen here in Colorado throwing it and the dirt's probably
a plus.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, well you know just the way it is sometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The last time will Go played in Denver, it was
a couple of years ago at the Mission Ballroom, and
I just want to say, for the record, you were
so lovely. We had a sound check beforehand, and you
and your band Nells, everybody was so lovely to our listeners,
and you were all so lovely to my wife and I.
We have the first thing when you walk into our
house now is an autographed will Co poster that you
(07:40):
guys all did. I just want to say this because
I think that you guys go the extra mile. You're
you show your humanity and your decency. You're just really
great people in addition to being great artists. So thank
you for what you do.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Thank you. I really appreciate that. I mean, I I
personally look a rock band is something a place to
model behavior like we're just like I didn't. It wasn't
that way when I was growing up, and I was
always kind of sad that it was. It didn't look
like a good strategy for living and actually lost a
(08:16):
lot of people. But you know, I do think it's uh,
you know, I like to believe in the whole the
whole thing, you know, not the music, but the whole thing.
I think should be something I can believe in. So
I'm glad. I'm glad you had a good time and
good experience. It's not always it's not always easy because
(08:38):
you know, it's just touring kind of hard. Sometimes you
can't kind of give yourself to everybody the way you
would like to.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
But thank you, thank you for everything. Jeff Tweety Mission
Ballroom Saturday for the Amphitheater Veil on Sunday. Can't wait
to talk to you again. Thank you all.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Right, thank you nice talking to you.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I'm glad you listen. You can find me on social
media places like Brett kb CEO on Instagram and Brett
Sanders on Blue Sky. You can also reach out to
me Brett B. R e T at kbco dot com.
See you next time.
I'm Brett. This is my podcast and I welcome you
to it. This time around, my guest is Jeff Tweety,
the leader of the innovative band Will co Jeff is
also releasing a massive solo album called Twilight Override on
September twenty sixth. It's always good to talk with Jeff
Tweety on the Brett Sonders Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, how's it going? Thanks you, Thanks for having us.
We're always excited to be back.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's only one of the best bands I've ever seen
in my life live Will COO. And I understand that
you had an epic show in Chicago last night. That's
what your management told me. What is it? Epic? A
great show for you in tail? What is it? Is
it a communication with the audience? What is it?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It was just a nice it is this beautiful night
and big enthusiastic crowd, hometown crowd, and you know we
did we did a pretty long set because we actually
did two sets, which we've been doing lately when we
do evening with shows and we don't have an opener,
but we up playing a lot more material and able
(01:03):
to get to some stuff in our catalog we don't
normally get to on a normal night.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, you have a phenomenal catalog at this point. I've
been spending a lot of time with that Ghost Is
Born box set that came out. You're a powerhouse, Jeff,
tweety Well.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Times are tough all over.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You have this album coming out. It's called Twilight Override.
It'll be out on September the twenty sixth. It's a
triple album. I've heard about a third of it and
I love it. Do you find yourself, Jeff, more productive
as a way of dealing with the state of the world,
So this gives you something to focus on?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I think so. I mean, I think everybody leans on
music as a consolation, you know, and even if I
wasn't making records and making writing songs, I mean, ever
since I was a little kid, I think it's in
my primary source of consolation and a way to cope
(02:06):
with internal crises and discomfort, and certainly as that spills
over into the broader picture and those anxieties reach you
from outside, I think it's a It's a pretty healthy
place to spend some time as you can.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, I ask because I think a lot of the
great creatives in the world are particularly prolific right now,
and psychologically, I think that can be very helpful for
the artist and of course for the audience too. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I mean it's it's you know, our imaginations are what's
going to be required to fix things, put things back together,
and our imaginations are going to be required to generate
hope and reject the things that we want to reject
and picture something better. You know, I don't so. Yeah,
(03:07):
engaging and in that side of how our brains work
and being visible to each other as individuals and all
that stuff is helpful. I mean, it's a it's a
liberating thing. It's a self liberating thing rock and roll
(03:28):
is to me, So you know, I don't see any
reason not to put more of it out into the world.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
You mentioned imagination. Jeff, what are your thoughts on artificial
intelligence at this juncture? It's getting kind of scary.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, yeah, I can see a lot of people being
afraid of the implications of what it might be capable
of or look like and you know, coming at us
really fast. I tend to take some comfort in the
knowledge that a rock concert is going to be hard
(04:06):
to put into a digital world. The feeling of being
next to someone else in a crowd, and I don't know,
just enjoying being a part of a congregation. All of
that stuff is not going to be easy to replicate,
and maybe it becomes more and more essential for people,
(04:29):
you know, to have that kind of community that you
can't get in the digital realm. At the same time,
I think that, you know, when I think about Wilka,
what we're doing up there, I don't. I mean, I
defy a computer scientists to program something to up the
way we're going.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
To so it's will co versus the robots, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, sorry, but sorry from a up but I guess
this is taped. You can bleep that.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Right, Sure, consider that taken care of. As will Go
travels from city to city, do you find the crowds
different from place to place?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I mean there are certain places that have nurtured
an audience to be an audience. I think of San
Francisco like that. I do think of Colorado that way,
because venues like Red Rocks and Mission Ballroom, I think
encourage a certain type of concert going, and I think
(05:32):
that they probably get a disproportionate amount of great shows
because I think bands are excited to play venues like that.
So yeah, that all contributes to, you know, an audience
kind of I don't know, being a cut above in
a lot of cases. You know, there's other things that
(05:53):
are factors that I have to I think way more
on what I can anticipate a crowd to be like.
And that's like days of the week. Sure, yeah, and
you know, seats versus a general admission floor, you know,
things like that. But yeah, I would say that the
Colorado audiences have been elite over the years.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I want to move on to baseball. Before I let
you go, Jeff Tweety, you've thrown out the first pitch
at every ballpark in the National League Central Division? Would
you like to expand that? I'm curious have Do you
feel like you've conquered that one thing or are you
going to continue to do this with different parts of
the league.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I think I'm going to go division by division if
I can. I would like to. Yeah, I don't know.
I think that I probably would start with the AL
Central because we have a you know, because of the
White Sox, so i'd have a you know, ame hometown
used to start.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
My last one was kind of in the dirt. I
had a little heat on it, but it was in
the dirt. Was pretty embarrassing. I phone a lot. I
phone a fair amount of strikes. I took it. I
was shuborous. I thought I had it. I had it.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Listen here in Colorado throwing it and the dirt's probably
a plus.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, well you know just the way it is sometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The last time will Go played in Denver, it was
a couple of years ago at the Mission Ballroom, and
I just want to say, for the record, you were
so lovely. We had a sound check beforehand, and you
and your band Nells, everybody was so lovely to our listeners,
and you were all so lovely to my wife and I.
We have the first thing when you walk into our
house now is an autographed will Co poster that you
(07:40):
guys all did. I just want to say this because
I think that you guys go the extra mile. You're
you show your humanity and your decency. You're just really
great people in addition to being great artists. So thank
you for what you do.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Thank you. I really appreciate that. I mean, I I
personally look a rock band is something a place to
model behavior like we're just like I didn't. It wasn't
that way when I was growing up, and I was
always kind of sad that it was. It didn't look
like a good strategy for living and actually lost a
(08:16):
lot of people. But you know, I do think it's uh,
you know, I like to believe in the whole the
whole thing, you know, not the music, but the whole thing.
I think should be something I can believe in. So
I'm glad. I'm glad you had a good time and
good experience. It's not always it's not always easy because
(08:38):
you know, it's just touring kind of hard. Sometimes you
can't kind of give yourself to everybody the way you
would like to.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
But thank you, thank you for everything. Jeff Tweety Mission
Ballroom Saturday for the Amphitheater Veil on Sunday. Can't wait
to talk to you again. Thank you all.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Right, thank you nice talking to you.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I'm glad you listen. You can find me on social
media places like Brett kb CEO on Instagram and Brett
Sanders on Blue Sky. You can also reach out to
me Brett B. R e T at kbco dot com.
See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!