During the coronavirus pandemic, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has been doing a series of livestreams alongside his family on Instagram, The Tweedy Show.
The series has seen the frontman perform a slew of covers with his sons, from artists like Neil Young, My Bloody Valentine, Arthur Russell, Pavement, Mazzy Star, and more.
In the latest instalment, Tweedy has offered an acoustic rendition of Billie Eilish track ‘i love you’ from her debut record When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. The cover happens around the 16-minute mark.
Check out Jeff Tweedy covering Billie Eilish on The Tweedy Show:
On June 18th, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy published a lengthy open letter, addressing the racial inequality in the music industry, and calling on his peers to take action.
The letter saw Tweedy pledge to donate 5% of his “writer revenue” to organisations “working toward racial justice.” A move that came in light of the Black Lives Matter movement that picked up momentum following the senseless murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Tweedy’s open letter was a call to action for his peers, encouraging them to reckon with the knowledge that the music industry is built on a foundation of profiting off black art.
“The modern music industry is built almost entirely on Black art,” he wrote. “The wealth that rightfully belongs to Black artists was stolen outright…I’ve often thought there should be an industry-wide plan to address this enormous injustice.
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Tweedy’s letter saw the musician challenge performance rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC to implement programs committed to elevating black musicians, and committing to reparations.
“Hundreds of us joining together could provide some tremendous relief. Thousands of us committing to a reparations initiative could change our business and the world we live in,” he wrote.
The musician revealed that he has a dialogue running with BMI, which he hopes will “be able to put together a coalition of Black community leaders and people within the music industry that would help me administer and direct and be somewhat of a board of trustees.”
