Sunken Treasure

Last night, tired of reruns and the latest reality show, we watched Jeff Tweedy's Sunken Treasure dvd, which is a selection of shows from his Pacific Northwest solo tour. Well, not completely solo tour; he is occassionally joined by Wilco mates Glen Kotche and Nels Cline; but this is primarily Tweedy with his various accoustic guitars playing a wide variety of his songs from Uncle Tupelo, Wilco and I gather, Loose Fur.

As I noted after Mark Erelli's show, the guy with the guitar is the toughest gig to pull off. And Tweedy was singing songs that usually include several electric guitars, keyboard, drum, bass, etc. These are not simple, yet they all worked and worked well. "I am trying to break your heart" was, I think, my favorite, but there were several amazing songs.

Mixed in, of course, with some patter with the crowd. One time, he forgets the lyrics to one of his songs and restarts. Another time, he asks the talkers why they pay money to talk during the concert--a question all of us have wondered. Related to that, he mused on the experience of concert goers--that experience of sharing with other human beings some common experience. That experience, he wondered, might be similar to church--when it works.

I liked that.

I would have liked to hear him play "Handshake Drugs" and would have loved to hear an accoustic version of "Misunderstood," but I really loved this show. Music is good for the soul.