Jeff Tweedy Previews His First Proper Solo Album with Twang-Tinged Single “Some Birds”

Jeff Tweedy has shared “Some Birds,” the first single off his forthcoming solo album WARM, out Nov. 30 through dBpm Records. The record, recorded at Tweedy’s legendary Chicago studio The Loft, will be his first proper album of entirely new solo work, and will feature liner notes by the acclaimed author George Saunders.

“Some Birds” finds Tweedy up to his old Uncle Tupelo tricks once again. The rusted alt-country of No Depression has, throughout the years, alternately been Tweedy’s boon and bane—some of Wilco’s best work occurred when he was running as far away from roots rock as he could. But when he’s on his own, that naturalistic style of songwriting feels, well, natural.

Like Wilco’s collaboration with Billy Bragg, or Tweedy’s own cover of Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” off the I’m Not There soundtrack, “Some Birds” just feels right. His reedy voice seems to be made for lap-steel slides and clomping acoustic vamps. That’s not to say he’s gone all “beer, trucks and broken hearts,” though—he’s still got his deadpan wit and an eye for good imagery. “Some birds just sit / useless, like a fist,” he sings to start. “I lean on the wall / like a broom, confused / by the scope it all,” he adds later, his metaphors always dangling for a few moments, leaving you wondering just how a fist is useless, or how a broom can be confused. It’s comfortable but funny, lived-in but not tired.

According to Tweedy, “Some Birds” is “like a lot of songs on WARM, being a confrontation between self and shadow self simultaneously feeling I’m to blame and not to blame, present and gone, and utterly confused, but determined to hold someone accountable.”

Tweedy will be touring this fall in support of his new record. Those tour dates, as well as the WARM tracklist and album art, can be found further down.

Check out the “Some Birds” video (dir. Seth Henrikson) below, along with a 1996 Wilco show from the Paste archives, and read Saunders’ full WARM liner notes over at The New Yorker.

WARM Tracklist:
01. Bombs Above
02. Some Birds
03. Don’t Forget
04. How Hard it is for a Desert to Die
05. Let’s Go Rain
06. From Far Away
07. I Know What It’s Like
08. Having Been Is No Way To Be
09. The Red Brick
10. Warm (When The Sun Has Died)
11. How Will I Find You

WARM Album Art:

Jeff Tweedy Tour Dates:

September
24 – Bozeman, Mont. @ Rialto Theatre ^ — SOLD OUT
25 – Missoula, Mont. @ The Wilma ^
26 – Spokane, Wash. @ Bing Crosby Theater ^
28 – Victoria, B.C. @ Capital Ballroom ^ — SOLD OUT
29 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Vogue Theatre ^
30 – Seattle, Wash. @ Moore Theatre ^ — SOLD OUT

October
02 – Portland, Ore. @ Newmark Theatre ^ — SOLD OUT
05 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore * — SOLD OUT
08 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel * — SOLD OUT

(^ = with James Elkington)
(* = with Kacy & Clayton)