So it’s halfway through January 2022, and I’m only now getting around to looking back at last year’s Wilco activity. As expected, Jeff Tweedy and company’s musical pursuits were scaled down due to the seemingly never-ending pandemic. They still managed to do a 40-show tour, which included several festivals; and Tweedy and family, along with help from visiting bandmates produced over 70 episodes of their Instagram program, The Tweedy Show.
That’s where we’ll begin. Nobody expected it to last this long, but to the delight of many fans (who are dubbed “clients”) The Tweedy Show is still going strong. By this point, the tuneful family has played just about every Wilco and solo Tweedy song more than once (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but a continuing deep dive into a sea of classic covers keeps the show from ever being unengaging.
Last summer, on July 29, the Tweedy family hit their 200th episode, commemorated by Jumble cartoonist, Jeff Knurek, with the glorious image below. which Many thought that this might be the last episode of The Tweedy Show as Wilco were going on tour soon after.
They needn’t have worried as the show resumed in September, and while they were less frequent, the series aired throughout the next several months. As of this writing, their most recent program was Episode 210 (January 6, 2020).
In August, Wilco began their first tour since the covid crisis in Spokane, Washington. The tour was called “It’s Time – Summer 2021,” and was supported by Sleater-Kinney, and NNAMDÏ. I was in attendance at an odd venue that used to be a junkyard called Salvage Station in Asheville, N.C., which was superb. Please read my review here.
Wilco ended their tour by being inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. Held at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas, the ceremony also included inductees Alejandro Escovedo and Lucinda Williams. Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Rosanne Cash and Sheila E. helped out as guest performers at the event which was broadcast on PBS on January 8th, and is can be accessed on Wilco’s official website. Watch Wilco leading the all-star sing-a-long finale rendition of “California Stars”:
While hoping that Wilco has a more eventful 2022, it’s encouraging to see that they made the most of 2021. Right, now (January 17-20), they are kicking off the new year headlining the Sky Blue Sky festival at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Stay tuned for setlists from that event, and more up-to-date Wilco whatnot.
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