Tweedy: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

There’s something heartwarming about a family making music together. I’m especially sentimental when I see a father with a son, because my son and I made music in contra dance bands and Irish sessions as he grew up. Years ago, while interviewing Jeff Tweedy before a Wilco concert, I asked him if he’d made music with his kids. He told me about going to his son Spencer’s preschool class and writing a tune with all the kids; “Monkey Mess“ was their final creation. Now, all these years later, he and Spencer have put together 20 songs as Tweedy for a new record called Sukierae; the material is strong, personal and bare. Spencer is a great drummer who grew up playing in the basement of a Chicago bar called Lounge Ax (which his mom, Susie Miller, co-owned), and he’s got a group of his own called The Blisters. The father and son usually perform together with a full-band lineup. But here at the Tiny Desk, we’ve stripped it down to just the men who bear the Tweedy name — and share the family bond that helps make t