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, coowned), and he s got a group of his own called The Blisters. The father and son usually perform together with a fullband 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