Let's Go (So We Can Get Back)

October 22, 2018
Alt-rock star Tweedy tells of his musical ascent in this sincere, affable memoir. Growing up in a small crumbling downstate Illinois town “where everybody knows who’s cheating on who, and who’s been out of work,” Tweedy discovered music by following 1980s underground pioneers such as the Minutemen (“Punk rock was an exotic event happening somewhere else in the world”), haunting record stores, and finding like-minded neighbors such as future Uncle Tupelo bandmate Jay Farrar. Uncle Tupelo formed in 1987, but after seven years, Tweedy and the alt-country band split ways in, as Tweedy describes it, a passive-aggressively acrimonious way. Tweedy started Wilco in 1994 and eventually released 10 records, including Mermaid Avenue, a collection of Woody Guthrie songs that the band recorded with Billy Bragg. Throughout, Tweedy writes about his wife, Susie Miller (a Chicago club booker when they met), and touches on his struggle with anxiety and his addiction to Vicodin (it allowed him to write “and not fall into a heap on the floor in a fit of weeping and panic”). Tweedy will delight fans by sharing such tidbits as his favorite moment in the Wilco documentary and how a Noah’s Ark analogy powered the Grammy-winning A Ghost Is Born album. Tweedy tells a wonderfully unassuming story of a music-filled life.

Fans of the alternative rock band Wilco would likely be upset if anyone other than its leader, Jeff Tweedy, performed his audiobook memoir. The occasional Wilco snark and meandering monologue herein are in keeping with his onstage persona. Maybe a professional narrator might have had an easier time with the pacing, but he couldn't capture the spirit. This work will also delight fans of Wilco and Tweedy's previous band, Uncle Tupelo. Tweedy talks about his occasionally weird childhood, his slow decision to become a musician, and the way his career just kind of happened. Fans will delight in the backstories of their favorite songs and the tales from the road. His wife, Susie, proves to be a better narrator in her short section. Take a lesson from the lady, Jeff. M.S. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine