Jeff Tweedy couldn't have picked a more ironic song to sing Sunday night at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas than "Passenger Side," his twangy Wilco classic about how alcohol abuse can literally and figuratively take you out the driver's seat.
In his new memoir, Let's Go (So We Can Get Back), the 51-year-old singer writes candidly about getting addicted to alcohol and painkillers and how sobriety gave him back the control of his life. Yet thanks to one boozed-up fan, Tweedy found himself losing grip of the wheel during his solo acoustic concert.
"What part of 'settle down' didn't you understand?" he said sarcastically to a woman in the 10th row who kept hooting, hollering and singing along -- badly off-key.
Tweedy turned the tipsy fan into a running joke. "Did someone just leave on a stretcher?" he said after she'd been escorted out of the theater the first of two times. Earlier, the singer half-jokingly scolded a photographer in the pit whose shutter noise upset Tweedy's concentration.
But in the end, the distractions couldn't derail an enchanting 90-minute set of songs dating back to "Acuff Rose" by Uncle Tupelo, the pioneering alt-country group Tweedy co-founded before he formed the eclectic, long-running Wilco.
With Wilco taking a brief hiatus, Tweedy is on the road with just an acoustic guitar to spotlight songs from Warm, his first proper solo album, and Warmer, its upcoming companion. The melodies were sharp, with some surprisingly blunt lyrics.
"Some people say, 'What drugs did you take, and why don't you start taking them again?'" he sang in one new tune. "But they're not my friends."
Sobriety, anxiety, mortality ... Tweedy has always tackled heavy topics, although he often uses cryptic, Dylanesque lyrics to dissect them. What really sets him apart as a songwriter is his subtle blend of styles - everything from folk to jazz - and his gorgeous melodies, which he showed off in the Woody Guthrie-inspired "California Stars" and "Let's Go Rain," a new tune about religion and Noah's Ark.
He pared down a slew of Wilco tunes, starting the show with "Via Chicago" and encoring with "Misunderstood," complete with an avant-garde acoustic guitar solo in place of the chaotic jam in the song's recorded version.
Not all the new versions held up so well. On record, 2007's "Impossible Germany" is a slow-building masterpiece fired by majestic twin electric guitars. On Sunday, it came off as an unremarkable little ditty.
But that's OK. When Tweedy finishes his solo tour, he'll rejoin Wilco to play "Impossible Germany" once again in full glory - and with enough decibels to drown out any drunks who try to interrupt the show.
Thor Christensen is a Dallas writer and critic. Email him at thorchris2@yahoo.com.
