Talking Wilco deep cuts with Evan Smith
The co-founder of The Texas Tribune and Wilco superfan shares his favorites
“What are your favorite Wilco deep cuts?”
This was the subject line of my email to Evan Smith. It was a cold email. While I have followed his work over the years — first when he was the editor-in-chief and president of Texas Monthly, then as the co-founder and CEO of The Texas Tribune, and now as senior advisor to the Emerson Collective — I had only met him briefly once or twice, as my wife had worked with him at the Austin Film Society 20 years ago.
But the subject line must have got his attention because, within about two minutes, we were on the phone for a freewheeling conversation about Wilco fandom, the beloved song he considers overrated, and, yes, his favorite deep cuts — all in time for the band’s three-night stand in our shared hometown of Austin.
I knew Evan was a Wilco fan because, well, it’s in his Twitter bio, and reinforced in a recent BlueSky post1. (He had also interviewed Jeff Tweedy twice for his PBS show, Overheard with Evan Smith, in 2011 and 2019.) “I’m OG here,” he says, saying he first saw Wilco on tour supporting their 1995 debut album, A.M., and was a fan of Tweedy’s previous band, Uncle Tupelo, before that.
“One of the amazing things about Wilco is you go to Solid Sound” — the band’s biennial festival, held at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA — “and you look to your left, and you look to your right, and you think, I’ve found my tribe,” he says. “The people around you at these shows — generationally, culturally, from the standpoint of their values, without even having a conversation with them — are like you. You are among your people. This is your flock. For me, that’s been one of the most gratifying aspects of being a fan of the band.”
His fandom includes some controversial opinions. He says that “Jesus, Etc.,” by far the band’s most-streamed song, is “mid.” (“Within their catalog, I absolutely don’t even put it in the upper half,” he adds.) Another staple, “Impossible Germany,” has divided his house along gender lines — his wife and friends head to the bathroom when it’s played at shows. For Smith, however, listening to live variations is a welcome indulgence. “Some people sample different bottles of wine, I sample different guitar solos at the end of ‘Impossible Germany,’” he says.
As for another tune Wilco’s almost guaranteed to play on any given night, he says, “I think ‘California Stars’ is about as perfect a song that exists. You can almost do anything to it and not ruin it.” Case in point: David Byrne’s memorably botched performance at Solid Sound 2022, which Smith witnessed in person. “David Byrne had clearly never heard the song, and clearly didn’t even know the lyrics. There was a fucking music stand for middle school sitting in front of him, which presumably had the lyrics on it, and he still botched the lyrics. And it’s great! There is no ruining ‘California Stars.’ It is perfect.”
Speaking of Solid Sound, Smith was at this year’s edition, where the band’s first-night performance was devoted to deep cuts — though for a devoted fan, perhaps that wasn’t the right term. “For me, there are no Wilco deep cuts,” he says. “I knew all the words to every song in the setlist.”
That said, there are certainly songs in the catalog that are deeper than others — those rarely streamed or performed live. Smith was kind enough to provide ten of his favorites, seemingly off the top of his head, and I’m impressed at how well his picks flow on a playlist. They also represent the band’s many disparate styles, from earnest folk-rock to feedback-laden noise experiments.
His thoughts on each song, followed by the playlist, are below.
“One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)”
One of my favorite Wilco songs of all-time. It goes on forever, but it’s fantastic. If you go back to 2011 to my interview with Tweedy on my PBS show, we actually talk about this song. My daughter at the time was 14, and we would have that record on when I was driving her to school. She thought that was an enormously emotional song — it hit her really hard every time she heard it. She had a real reaction to it.
“Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard”
An absolute favorite of mine among Wilco songs, but one that you very rarely hear. I had never actually heard them play it live before [the deep cuts show].
“Panthers”
Another one I love.
“Country Song Upside-down”
From Cruel Country, which I think I’ve only heard when they played every song from the record [on its release date in 2022]. I’ve never heard them play it since, but I love it.
“White Wooden Cross”
I heard it first at Solid Sound in 2019 before Ode to Joy2 was out. And I was like, “What’s this? I’ve never heard this before.” And it was really great. My wife and I went with our kids to San Miguel later that summer, and I had the recording, and I was listening to it over and over, so I always associate it with running through Parque Juarez in San Miguel.
“Soldier Child”
This is the one song that I think nobody has locked onto as an amazing song.
“Pot Kettle Black”
As many versions of it as I have, I still think of it as a deep cut, because they don’t really play it.
“You Satellite”
From Star Wars. Which I think is one of those albums that stand out as the weakest links in the chain. But it’s like Martin Scorsese: At his worst, he's better than 90% of everybody else[’s work]. Wilco's bad records are still better than most other records that people put out.
“Sonny Feeling”
Which they did play this year, finally, at the deep cuts thing. Boy, that’s a great song.
“Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key”
And this is and it isn’t a Wilco song, because it’s part of the Billy Bragg collaboration, but it’s great.
Thanks to Evan for the time and the chance to geek out! Please support The Texas Tribune, an indispensable source of news in the Lone Star State, and a pioneering nonprofit journalism organization no matter where you live.
We need a catchy term for posting to Bluesky. “Skywriting”?
The underrated 2019 album that features this song, a master class in understated empathy.