Drummer Spencer Tweedy was only 16 when he played on Mavis Staples’ critically acclaimed “One True Vine,” the 2013 album produced by Spencer’s father (also Wilco frontman) Jeff Tweedy.
“It was my first time working in the studio making a full-on record,” Spencer said. “I’d done a couple of recording things in the past, but never an entire album, so it was new in that sense.”
Now 18, the young drummer is practically a grizzled vet — or he soon might be. This month he’s on the road with his dad, performing new music — a lot of it — as Tweedy. The tour brings them to the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Mass. on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m., less than a week after their expansive new album, “Sukierae,” goes on sale.
“Mostly I just felt honored that I was being allowed to perform on a Mavis Staples album, because she’s a living legend,” Spencer continued. “That made me feel really happy.”
Any talk of nepotism disappears when you hear Spencer’s drumming, which doesn’t simply support Jeff’s ideas; on each of the 20 (!) songs on “Sukierae,” Spencer’s playing provokes and comments, prods and lays back. He folds triplets into the jittery 7/8 groove of “World Away,” or alternates between the hi-hat and tom rolls on “I’ll Sing It.” His echo-heavy kit and fwump-y kick fades in on “Slow Love,” like he’d been messing around on his own. What jumps out is his technical skill, unflagging pulse and inventive sense of color and touch, which often takes the music in surprising directions.
“Most of the songs started as ideas that my dad came upon by himself,” Spencer said. “And then, in the studio, we’d sort through those ideas and maybe do a little practice-run in the control room. If we decided we wanted to pursue it, we’d go out in the main room and record it, usually just the two of us, him playing acoustic guitar and me playing drums. That’s the general way that we went about it, but not every song happened that way.”
Of the 20 songs on “Sukierae,” five are less than three minutes long. (The opener, tricky in meter and harmony, “Please Don’t Let Me Be So Understood,” only lasts a minute and a half.) Others, like “Diamond Light, Part One,” are longer and more overtly experimental.
Song fragments and ideas, according to Spencer, spill out from Jeff without much teasing. (The singer-songwriter discussed his songwriting process in a recent Atlantic article.) “He discredits himself a lot by saying that he’s not a natural musician, but he’s not necessarily referring to himself as a songwriter,” Spencer said. “If you watch his songwriting, it’s definitely something that’s fluid and natural. When you see that happen, it’s clear that it’s what he’s meant to do. It’s an astonishing thing.”
Early on in the process, the Tweedys thought of some recordings as demos, but soon realized they were much more. “[The demos] turned out to feel like they had to be the real thing, that if we ever tried to do another version it would feel like a cover of the demo,” Spencer said. “The first time you capture it, it feels like an indelible recording.”
Unlike many kids, Spencer never went through a period where he and his dad didn’t like the same kind of music. “It’s never been possible for my brother or I to differ that much from my dad,” he said. “Even when my brother was listening to Eminem, he’d play a song like ‘Stan’ in the car, and that didn’t annoy my dad… [Jeff’s] a very open-minded person. He’s just a music fan when it boils down to it, so he’s really up for listening to anything and enjoying music in any way at all with his kids.” That said, Spencer sometimes feels out of touch with some of the music his peer group listens to. “I feel like a grandpa when I go to a place like Lollapalooza and there’s [EDM] all around me, and I have no idea how to enjoy that… I like good old guitars and drums and whatnot.”
When the Tweedys perform, some fans show up and want to hear Wilco songs (they do get a few). With all the new material to play, it’s often nerve-wracking to take listeners in a new direction. “We knew we’d have to make a transition going in from the full-band setting [Wilco] to my dad’s acoustic setting,” Spencer said. “We were trying to figure out the best way to do that, and we weren’t positive that it would work out for an audience to come along with us. But we’ve been really lucky so far to see that people seem like they’re excited to hear the new material, as opposed to perturbed by it.”
Eventually, Spencer plans to enroll in college, but not to study music.
“I think of music as my main thing in life, and I’ve already had a decent traditional music education in elementary school and high school,” Spencer said. “I want to take advantage of college for its other educational opportunities. I’m getting a pretty good music education taking advantage of the opportunities in my family and with my dad. But when I go to school I’m going to focus on other stuff.”
TWEEDY performs on Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Mass., with Hospitality opening. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $39.50-$49.50. Information: iheg.com.
