Alexander onstage with The Heavy Lidders
NICKSAYERS
“W
E’RE definitely getting a different
audience for The Heavy Lidders,” Alexander notes of his most E’RE definitely getting a different high-profile outfit, after 30 years of improvised head music with the likes of the ongoing, freeranging Dire Wolves, as well as sideman duties with Jackie-O Motherfucker. “People like songs. They want a vocal to latch onto.
Jeffrey Alexander &The Heavy Lidders’ selftitled 2021 debut landed during lockdown with folky, hazily drifting tunes led by Alexander’s gently questing voice and guitar. Covid contributed to its genesis, as the geographically scattered Dire Wolves were kept apart, and Alexander sought players near his Philadelphia home. Deeper life-changes also inspired the shift to songcraft. “It was around the time that my kids were becoming real, talking little people, and I was being more engaged as a poppa,” he says. “A lot of Lidders songs are about my kids. Ihad them at 50, and I’m doin’ my best!”