Jeff Tweedy Performs “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”

Jeff Tweedy is an internationally successful musician and the frontman for alternative rock band Wilco.

Born in 1967, Tweedy grew up in Belleville, IL, and learned to play guitar at age 12. In high school, he joined classmate Jay Ferrar in the band that became Uncle Tupelo. When Farrar left the influential alt country group in 1993 after four albums, Tweedy recruited the remaining members to join Wilco.

With its lyrical songwriting and musical experimentation, Wilco’s fourth album (of eleven), Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), cemented a transition from alt country to indie rock. It sold over half a million copies and was named one of the best albums of the 2000s by numerous publications. The followup, A Ghost Is Born (2004), won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Tweedy has also played with groups Loose Fur and Golden Smog and recorded several solo albums. In 1998, Wilco collaborated with English musician Billy Bragg on Mermaid Avenue, the first of three celebrated collections of songs based on lyrics by Woody Guthrie.

Tweedy released his bestselling memoir Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) in 2018.