JEFF TWEEDY
Wilco and Uncle Tupelo’s main-man reviews a life of uncertainty
LET’S GO (SO WE CAN GET BACK)
FABER & FABER
★★★★
Although Jeff Tweedy observes in this excellent new autobiography that he never liked the ‘alt-country’ tag which the media applied to his band Uncle Tupelo around 1990, the essence of the label is pretty accurate. Country instrumentation and a certain wistful outlook formed the essence of that band’s appeal, as well as that of Tweedy’s later, bigger act Wilco, but there was no denying the range of differing sounds that infused the music. The singer reinforces this with an honest, open account of the punk rock and Americana sounds that influenced him as a kid; all this considered, ‘alt-country’ is a pretty good way of describing Tweedy’s career output to date.