Jeff Tweedy: Twilight Override

Release Date: September 26, 2025

Personnel: Jeff Tweedy (vocals, guitar); Liam Kazar (bass); Spencer Tweedy (drums); Sima Cunningham (synths, piano); Sammy Tweedy (synths); Macie Stewart (violin); James Elkington (guitars)

Produced by Jeff Tweedy and Tom Schick

Disc One: One Tiny Flower; Caught Up in the Past; Parking Lot; Forever Never Ends; Love is for Love; Mirror; Secret Door; Betrayed; Sign of Life; Throwaway Lines

Disc Two: KC Rain (No Wonder); Out in the Dark; Better Song; New Orleans; Over My Head (Everything Goes); Western Clear Skies; Blank Baby; No One's Moving On; Feel Free

Disc Three: Lou Reed Was My Babysitter; Amar Bharati; Wedding Cake; Stray Cats in Spain; Ain't It a Shame; Twilight Override; Too Real; This Is How It Ends; Saddest Eyes; Cry Baby Cry; Enough

On "Wilco: The Song" from 2009 Jeff Tweedy pledged to listeners that "Wilco, will love you baby." His new triple solo album Twilight Override lives up to that promise from years back, offering everyone some tempered but hopeful words in the fraught year of our lord 2025. 

Tweedy has stated each disc was intended to loosely represent the past, present, and future. "One Tiny Flower" opens the album on a somber note, channeling a thread of hope by way of mantra. The image of a flower blooming amidst decay provides the metaphor, the hazy production recalls A Ghost is Born - cloudy, but melodic. 

On "Caught Up in the Past" Tweedy sings, "I'm the last in line and the line is moving fast" in a tune channeling late period Dylan ("Not Dark Yet") but with a post-punk sound. Listeners are reminded "it's a race against time/but you're never gonna be that fast" setting up the recurring theme of mortality running through the record. "Parking Lot" is a wry spoken word track in a zone somewhere between pastiche and parody. "Forever Never Ends" is an offering of jangly country rock, semi-autobiographical with Tweedy recalling getting stranded after the Prom on a dark road - and reliving the moment through recurring nightmares. "Love is for Love" is moody with dueling guitars and thundering percussion. 

On "Mirror" there's an undercurrent of electronica in a track about staring at one's own reflection. "Secret Door" interrogates a complex relationship; the fadeout sounds like a lost '70s theme to a paranormal themed TV show. "Betrayed" recalls Tweedy's Uncle Tupelo days with its swinging Sweetheart of the Rodeo grooves. "Sign of Life" is more cosmic country with ethereal background vocals, 'Throwaway Lines" ends the first disc on an acoustic number - confessional in sentiment. 

"KC Rain (No Wonder)" muses on middle age and elusive clarity. On "Out in the Dark" existential malaise and confusion set to power pop. "Better Day" interrogates the place of art amidst turmoil within and without. "New Orleans" recalls Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at its more stripped-down moments on tracks like "Radio Cure." In a similar vein, "Over My Head (Everything Goes)" evokes George Harrison at his most melancholy and insightful. 

'Western Clear Skies" begs for comparison to "Sky Blue Sky" from Wilco's 2007 album of the same title, sonically this track allows traces of light peak through the heavy grey tone of this movement on the album, a cheerful surrealism. "Blank Baby" achieves near Pet Sounds harmonies, but with the mood more wintery Midwest than sunny SoCal. "No One's Moving On" is like late period David Bowie, plus we're treated to a guitar solo. "Feel Free" is vintage Tweedy, ending the second part of the record with a secular sermon of sorts, not unlike John Lennon at his most optimistic and poetic, Jeff even references the Beatles and Stones (even a shout out to his 2000s side project Loose Fur!). 

The third disc opens the explosive "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter" in perhaps the emotional high point of the record. Tweedy promises, "rock 'n' roll ain't ever gonna die/not as long as you and I are alive." "Amar Bharati" is a ballad about the Indian ascetic who never lowers his right hand. "Wedding Cake" is the shortest song at 1:51, a spare acoustic track, "Stray Cats in Spain" offers a travelogue of vague memories. "Ain't It a Shame" muses on perspectives on death in the tenderest ballad on the album. 

The eponymous track "Twilight Override" echoes a tranquil '70s Cat Stevens ballad. "Too Real" goes even further into the cosmic, evoking a moment of enlightenment. "This Is How It Ends" stays in the cosmic realm, building to an epic finish. On "Saddest Eyes" Tweedy sings "All the best brains are broken" in the closest the album comes to speaking to the current moment but could easily belong on All Things Must Pass. "Cry Baby Cry" is a psychedelic country ballad in the Gram Parsons mode, background laughter floats in the background. The final track titled "Enough" ends the album, promising continuity, sending us off with a slushy guitar flourish. 

Twilight Override eschews social commentary in favor of introspection, the importance of inner strength and insight (not in the dopey pop psychology sense), but a political act in itself. The album feels like a tightly wrapped box with its fierce interiority. Moments when it lets loose may leave one hoping for more such moments but never diminishes its fragile power. 

Wilco A.M. (1995)

Release Date: March 28, 1995

Active Members: Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Ken Coomer, Max Johnston


Produced by Brian Paulson

Wilco's 1995 debut album A.M. appeared inauspicious at the time. Led by Jeff Tweedy, Wilco was formed after Uncle Tupelo disbanded. Tweedy's former bandmate Jay Farrar went off to convene Son Volt (they are also still active). Wilco continued in the vein of the final Uncle Tupelo record Anodyne, roots rock from the middle of the Midwest.

Brian Henneman of the Bottle Rockets played guitar on some of the tracks for A.M. His liner notes recount the laid back atmosphere of the sessions:

The music just kinda fell from the sky. I vaguely remember Jeff asking if I wanted to join the band, I vaguely remember respectfully declining. It all seemed so haphazard, so unfocused. I wasn't sure this band "Wilco" was gonna make it.

A.M. is a collection of rockers and country rock. No big statements. Nothing flashy. The opener is the zippy guitar driven "I Must Be High" that acknowledges to the uncertainty of the enterprise and bids farewell to Uncle Tupelo:

You
Always Wanted More Time
To do
What you always wanted to do
Now you got it
And I, I must be high
To say goodbye
Bye bye bye

The lyrics on A.M. are restrained, almost self-conscious. "Casino Queen" takes place in a riverboat casino with a desperate narrator with one of my favorite Wilco scenes:

I hit the second deck 
And I spent my paycheck
And my wife that i just met
She's looking like a wreck

From the Tom Waits ambiance of the casino there's a poignant break up song, "Box Full of Letters." "Shouldn't Be Ashamed" hints at the epic rock convention and adds a layer of soul. Side one ends with three country tinged tracks with prominent banjos: "Pick Up the Change," "I Thought I Held You," and "That's Not the Issue." 

Longtime bassist of Wilco John Stirratt opens side two with the country ballad "It's Just That Simple." The song is Stirratt's only lead vocal in his long history with the band. "Should've Been In Love" deals with small town ennui, while "Passenger Side" remains a favorite in the Wilco catalog. The guy carries a suspended license and he must bum rides off others until his court date in June. Remember when five dollars could fill up the tank?

"Dash 7" deals with the fear of flying and "Blue Eyed Soul" is a total deep cut. The record closes with the playful and cathartic "Too Far Apart."

A.M. received positive critical notice, but was unfavorably compared to the Son Volt record Trace. Wilco kept on going and recorded a double album the following year, Being There. While there sound would go way beyond A.M., the first Wilco record still sounds fresh. The lack of pretension works in its favor.