Published by Meredith Hobbs Coons, Mary MacLane Mellas
A podcast by fans about the music and influence of Wilco cohosted by Mary MacLane Mellas and Meredith Hobbs Coons, edited by Greta Stromquist, with theme music by Adam Nash.
Listen on Apple Podcasts21 min
Here's the written version of this interview with Liam on The Tonearm 's website . Feel free to download/purchase Pilot Light on Liam's Bandcamp. Follow Liam on Instagram or head to his website to find out where he's headed next on tour. The lyrics Meredith references in this conversation are from Liam's song "Day Off," and this video incorporates his interest in cooking and gathering with friends in a really sweet way. Give it a watch! And this video of Liam cooking up a dish for Jeff Tweedy is just plain charming.
47 min
Here's the album Kirk and Paul made together (and Mary took the photos for it!) We talk a bit about our Solid Sound experience: here's the website for the Festival, in case you're curious Here's the stuff Meredith has written for The Tonearm, the generous publication that will be allowing us to double-dip to source some interviews for future episodes Here's Meredith's very official website
54 min
EPISODE SWAP! Nels Cline was gracious enough to guest on both of our podcasts, so Lawrence Peryer of The Tonearm and Meredith of Wilco Will Love You (who now contributes to The Tonearm) decided to post each other's episodes to treat our listeners to a little something different. A big thank you to Nels and to all of you for checking these out! You can find more episodes of The Tonearm podcast here . Lawrence also does print interviews for The Tonearm. And Meredith, of WWLY, has some articles there as well. Nels speaks mostly about his latest project Trio of Bloom on this episode with Lawrence. Craig Taborn is one of his illustrious collaborators in Trio of Bloom. Marcus Gilmore completes the Trio. And, of course, Lawrence and Nels talk about "Impossible Germany" in this conversation⏤namely, the challenge of having to replicate that performance again and again. Lawrence also has a beautiful observation about it. We won't spoil it for you!
38 min
(RECORDED JULY 30th, 2024) Lisa Machac is a huge Wilco fan (via the Jayhawks and Uncle Tupelo), and the original founder of Omni Sound Project, an organization that provides community and opportunities to sharpen audio skills to people from marginalized genders. The Mares chat with her about the many influences they share and on Wilco's influence in their lives. Omni Sound Project is now run by Isabelle Banos. Find it over on Substack. Mary and Lisa geeked out on the Jayhawks a bit. (Here they are, if you're not familiar.) Lisa mentions this performance, Bill Callahan and Nels Cline performing "Sky Blue Sky" at the Austin City Limits 7th Annual Hall of Fame honors. Lisa's favorite Wilco song is "She's A Jar," and this performance of it, 1999-04-21 Irving Plaza, New York, NY, is said to be a good one. Meredith and Lisa both write for Tape Op , thanks to Lisa getting Meredith involved. Meredith has this yellow bunny Tape Op acoustic panel from GIK Acoustics. Lisa and Meredith talk a lot about Tape Op' s editor Larry Crane on this podcast, and he has been a guest in the past. This is the Jackpot! Studios Substack they reference. Jeff Tweedy has a Substack called Starship Casual , if you didn't already know. And so does his buddy George Saunders, a hero . Lisa's recs: Charli XCX , Cowboy Carter by Beyonce , Indigo de Souza Meredith's rec: Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Past Is Still Alive Mary's rec: Madison Cunningham featuring Tim Bernardes Lisa's podcast is no longer going, unfortunately. But it was very good! Here's Lisa's current website. She has since pivoted from working in the music space to the hospitality industry. Avanti Provisions is Lisa's Montana-based concierge service.
41 min
Having seen Finom perform, and having briefly met the duo, at Solid Sound 2024, Meredith and Mary were so excited to chat with Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart about their experiences with and love for the Tweedy family and about their own respective musical journeys. Jeff Tweedy's latest album Twilight Override features these two prominently, and you can listen to the album all the way through from the passenger side perspective as Jeff drives around in this YouTube video . While that's pretty cool, they're actually in his music video for "Feel Free." Macie Stewart's website is here , and she has an Instagram as well. Sima Cunningham, too, has a website as well as an Instagram . Additionally, the band has a website and an Instagram. Please check out their amazing album Not God , produced by Jeff Tweedy. We also spoke about Sima Cunningham's album High Roller on the pod... ...but didn't get to chat about Macie Stewart's album When the Distance is Blue , because it hadn't been released yet. Their music videos are a lot of fun, too. Here's what they have for "Haircut," "Cyclops," "Not God," and "As You Are."
40 min
Jennifer Husbands, a true Chicago Wilco fan, talks to Mary and Meredith about her fandom origin story, the things that make Chicago Wilco fans distinct, and her uplifting experiences with the "Wilco-mmunity." In lieu of links, we'll share Jennifer's self-penned bio today: While school improvement is Jennifer Husbands' vocation, her avocation is seeing live music. Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Jenn grew up in a house filled with music (Motown, Jazz, Reggae, and Pop). In her teens, Jenn's lifelong obsession with live music was initially sparked by the Grateful Dead, but soon she branched off into Folk, Americana, Hip-Hop, and R&B. Music that heals, espouses positivity, and speaks to the human condition has informed and fueled her passion for education, philanthropy, and social change over her life, and she still attends 2 or 3 live music shows a month in her adopted hometown of Chicago. Throughout her 25 plus years in educational leadership and administration, she has convened networks of schools, consulted leaders at low-performing schools on improvement strategies, and trained staff starting new schools. She led the nation’s first charter school-based, state-approved teacher certification program and launched an innovative graduate school of education within a K-12 charter network in San Diego. Jennifer earned her PhD in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University's Graduate School of Education and her BA with Highest Honors in Rhetoric & Communications and Afro-American Studies from the University of Virginia. She is committed to lifelong learning, whether from her colleagues, her child, or through reading and listening to music and podcasts.
41 min
"The Mares" got another Wilco on the pod: Nels Cline! Meredith and Mary speak with the Wilco guitarist about his many collaborative projects and, of course, his time in Wilco. Here's the man's website, so that you can find all of his wonderful projects Frantone is one of the women-owned guitar pedal companies that Nels brought up during our conversation This is the other pedal maker Meredith couldn't think of during our chat: Heather Brown Electronicals As of this posting, Consentrik Quartet is Nels Cline's latest release over on Blue Note Records "Quiet Amplifier" is the song Nels referenced that they've found it impossible to play live as a band (and it's a great one) Nels shouts out bandmate (and past guest) Patrick Sansone as contributing lovely guitar work to the album Cruel Country, so why not revisit this video of the Carol's Pub show from October of 2022 to see it in action?
40 min
(RECORDED 10/9/2023) Mary and Meredith kick off season 3 by chatting with Diane Kyrus, moderator of the Wilco Facebook group "A Shot in the Arm," and devoted "rail rider" at Wilco shows across the USA. Here is the fundraiser link for the Wilco fan-supported Lucy Saladino Spaghetti Dinner that Diane told us about You can see Diane's Tweedy show birthday serenade neatly at the 6 minute mark of this video This is how Jeff Tweedy's famed Living Room Show will be going down this year (a little different, but still very cool!)
19 min
Kestrels' LinkTree will lead you to all of their various websites and social media accounts Kestrels' album Better Wonder comes out on Darla Records on February 14, 2025 (Aww!) And here's the music video for the song "Lilys" from that very album Don't forget! Chad's partner Norma was a guest on the podcast before he was the year she released the stunning album In Waves.
52 min
Cassandra's art is phenomenal, and you can see it in online form here . As she mentions, Mikael often takes photos that end up used in her work. You can also see how unbelievably cool Mikael and Cassandra's Pink Moment events are by checking out the info from "The Pink of the Moment," which took place in September of 2024. Here's a little more info about Mikael's Ojai-Fi event. And here is a collection of his other many projects. Here is the website for the Bob James documentary Mikael has been working on. Behold: The Taft Gardens , where Cassandra acts as tour guide, Arts Chair, and the founder of the Art in Nature residency, an experimental and environmental arts program. Here is Cassandra's Instagram , and here is Mikael's.
30 min
Here is Lynn's website . Lots to explore here. WanderWord brought our friend Lynn to Solid Sound. He's even on the website, in the top left quadrant of their photo gallery! Lynn's band The Disposition released their album Requiem for the Living in 2012 and you can download it on their Bandcamp page . You can follow Lynn on Instagram, too.
39 min
Let's just say https://www.leroybach.com/ provides some excellent information on the man, including how to contact him for music lessons, which he is currently offering. (The lessons page, specifically, is here .) The Mares (plus other guests and listeners) are very big fans of his work on A Ghost is Born , this track being a highlight. LeRoy has recently worked with Official Claire, and you can check her out here on Bandcamp .
36 min
If you don't know the Jumble, now you know. Here's a nice article properly crediting Jeff for the invention of Spikeball. And here's a Wikipedia entry for Roundnet (basically Spikeball, but an entry that credits Jeff) Jeff was also a guest on this podcast (talking about Spikeball, of course). He helped found The Tweedy Show Client Union as well And here is Jeff's Instagram As well as Sue Miller Tweedy's , where all previous episodes of The Tweedy Show can be found
28 min
Here's the Slaughter Beach, Dog website And here's Jacob's previous band Modern Baseball, for a little context Jacob mentioned touring with Bonny Doon As well as Sun June And we chatted about that awesome Pops Staples record Plus talked a lot about Schmilco
38 min
First of all, don't sleep on Patrick Sansone's photography (a new book, Noticings is in the works, too) OR his new single: a cover of Colin Blunstone's song "Smokey Day." (The video and arrangement are both gorgeous). Pat mentioned the artist Joseph Cornell as an influence on his photography. Mary and Patrick are both big fans of these guys: The New Topographics. (This entry also links to Stephen Shore and Robert Adams, two other artists he mentions in this interview). Patrick hosts this awesome radio show Baroque Down Palace on WYXR (but you can listen here, too!) Here's the print version of the incredible story Pat shares at the end (he's quoted in it, too).
19 min
If you don't know The Autumn Defense, get to know 'em! They're on Instagram, too. As is Mr. Patrick Sansone himself. He also has a website dedicated to his photography. For context, here's The Art Institute of Chicago, beloved by both Mary and Patrick. And here's the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (now shortened to AKG), also beloved by those two. Plus, some of John Pfahl's work can be found here.
26 min
Here's Meredith's interview with Annlie for SoundGirls And here are her film/television credits (be impressed!) Here's Devin talking plugins on his YouTube channel And here's the link to Goodhertz and all of their fabulous plugins (including Tupe, which Devin mentioned in this episode)
52 min
Catch all of Morgan's various writings here: https://www.morganenos.com/writing And check out the music he has released as Other Houses, too.
27 min
Subscribe to Tape Op! It's free! And you can learn from Larry himself right here. Plus, here's his Portland, Oregon studio Jackpot!
29 min
Jason P. Woodbury is a writer, musician, podcaster, and author of liner notes located in the Sonoran Desert. His writing has appeared in Pitchfork, Stereogum, the Los Angeles Review of Books and elsewhere. He produces podcasts and videos for WASTOIDS, and edits the eclectic online music magazine Aquarium Drunkard, where he hosts the weekly Transmissions podcast. Get yourself some tickets for Transmissions Live at PRS :: The Esoteric Sounds of Arthur Russell with Matt Marble Here's Jason's project WASTOIDS, which looks rad. Transmissions is the Aquarium Drunkard podcast that Jason hosts. Check out, and subscribe to, Aquarium Drunkard here. And here's the direct link to Meredith's interview with Karly Hartzman from Wednesday for that site.