Nels Cline’s Lost Album (and Other Favorites!)

Nick Millevoi: 00:00:12

Hey, this is Nick Millevoi.

Jason Shadrick: 00:00:13

And this is Jason Shadrick.

Nick Millevoi: 00:00:14

And this is the 100 guitarists podcast where each week we talk about one of the 100 guitar players that we think you should know.

Jason Shadrick: 00:00:22

That's right. And this week we are talking about one of our favorites, Mister Nels Cline, probably most famously of Wilco fame.

But as we will learn in this episode, his discography goes way, way, way past Wilco.

Nick Millevoi: 00:00:40

That's correct. Before we talk about Nels, we want to tell you, you can like and subscribe us right here on YouTube.

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Jason Shadrick: 00:01:02

Whatever the highest is. The highest, whatever the highest is.

Nick Millevoi: 00:01:07

And, you know, get at us. We like to hear from you.

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Jason Shadrick: 00:01:30

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Jason Shadrick: 00:02:38

Yeah, I like the harmonious monk, the harmonic tremolo that pedal show guys did. And I like, I like the rattler and the delay llama. Those are probably my favorites.

Nick Millevoi: 00:02:51

For me, it's probably the delay llama and the harmonious monk. The harmonious monk is really.

Jason Shadrick: 00:02:57

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They got that one dialed in real nice. All right, so check out jam petals. Thank you for sponsoring the podcast here. What a perfect sponsor to talk about Nels Kleinhouse.

Jason Shadrick: 00:03:09

So we have two kind of big buckets. We're gonna talk about one. We're gonna talk about our three favorite Nels records.

Nick Millevoi: 00:03:15

That's right.

Jason Shadrick: 00:03:16

We have a bunch of calls to get through. But first, let's try. I know Nels a little bit. You know him. You've played with him. So let's try and define Nels's sound.

Nick Millevoi: 00:03:28

Yes.

Jason Shadrick: 00:03:29

ber was in Des Moines. It was: 1012

Nick Millevoi: 00:03:43

Probably at this point, other than whatever jazz master he had, everything is different. Everything has changed.

Jason Shadrick: 00:03:48

Everything. He had literally, a table of pedals. I believe that his sound is very, like you said, jazzmaster.

I feel like that sound of that guitar is really inherent, and it's very an affected sound. You know, he has had situations where his tone hasn't been as affected, not using nearly as many pedals.

But to me, that kind of soundscape y, you know, very. I don't say not pure, but like, he makes sounds with a point to them. Like, I want something to sound like x.

So I'm going to use these tools to make it that way. That, to me, comes to mind when I. When I think of nails sound.

Nick Millevoi: 00:04:37

Yeah. For me, I think of Nels sound. He's drawing from so many different places and so many different guitar players. In fact, I don't know.

Did you ever look at Nels's website, like, ten years ago or ten or more years ago? Might even be more like 15 or more years ago. Early version of his website, where he would write long blog posts.

Jason Shadrick: 00:04:58

I feel like I have. Yes, that's ringing.

Nick Millevoi: 00:05:00

There was. He had his own hundred guitarists. I'm pretty sure it was 100 guitar players that inspired him.

Jason Shadrick: 00:05:06

And he's gonna be so mad we ripped off his idea.

Nick Millevoi: 00:05:09

Yeah, sorry, Nels. And it was a really cool list. I've looked at that list a lot. There was some great stuff on there. Nels. I don't think that stuff exists anywhere.

Bring it back somewhere.

Jason Shadrick: 00:05:19

Yeah, just send it to us.

Nick Millevoi: 00:05:21

You should figure that out. There was a really great. Just to go off the rails here for a moment.

There was a really great piece that I know that I read, so many of my friends read. I don't know if you've checked this out. It was called amp du Jour, and it was about.

It was a journal of a two week tour he did, and every amp he got as a backline amp along the way. Did you ever see this?

Jason Shadrick: 00:05:42

No.

Nick Millevoi: 00:05:43

This was, like, the awesomest thing. It led me to buy a Fender pro junior. That was his favorite amp to get on tour. His least favorite amp was a twin, if I remember correctly.

Maybe there was a marshall in there that was really inappropriate for the band. But a big, giant, loud twin was also inappropriate. But he got the pro junior was. Was the thing that he really. He really vibed on.

And I ended up buying a pro junior. I have, like, several friends who at that time, like, bought pro juniors, and I wish I still had mine.

I don't know why I don't have my pro junior, but that was a great piece. There were some other great pieces on there, so, anyway. But Nels has his hundred guitar players, so it's like, defining his sound, you know?

I think he would define it in a very big way. But for me, what I hear is I hear, first and foremost, I hear Nels coming from a rock perspective. And I think the rock guitar player I hear the most.

There are people like Jeff Beck that I hear in his playing, but for me, it's Tom Verlaine, and it has to do with his articulation and the jazzmaster whammy bar thing. I think that that's like, I've always identified that in his playing.

Then there's the sonic youth element of bringing noise into a virtuosic soloing context, and then seventies guitar, jazz players, forward thinking players. I'm thinking John Abercrombie Schofield, and later Nels peers like Bill Frisell, stuff like that. Metheny.

I hear all of these things in there, and it sort of defines the way I. The way I identify Nils Klein's guitar playing. But, you know, there's. When he has jazz projects that opens up other influences.

He has a great album from a while ago that's a tribute to Andrew Hill, and that has some really, like, really great, like, deep jazz stuff in there. You know, there's. There's gonna be less Tom Verlaine and less Sonic youth in there, though. I think it. You know, that stuff is always a part of.

I could go on.

Jason Shadrick: 00:07:54

What was the first thing you heard in Nels

Nick Millevoi: 00:07:59

The first time I heard Nels was an album I want to talk about a little bit later. Mike Watts contemplating the engine room, and I heard that, and I had heard of Nels before.

I might have even heard him before, but I knew of him in this context as I was getting into, like, really esoteric improvisation. And, you know, I knew him as this, like, total freak.

And maybe, you know, I think people had played me, like, clips of him improvising, but it sort of all matched together with, like, Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith and, like, you know, all these other players. But the first time I really heard him, it was like, this guy, this is gonna be one of my guys right here, was contemplating the engine room.

The first album I bought Washington, his duo with Greg Bendian, where they cover John Coltrane's interstellar space. And that, like, just blew my mind when I heard that one.

Jason Shadrick: 00:08:55

How about you? It was. It was when you joined Wilco.

Nick Millevoi: 00:08:59

Okay.

Jason Shadrick: 00:09:00

And it was. I probably had heard, I probably, I shouldn't say as I heard.

I probably had read about him in guitar magazines at some point, but, you know, as some not fully enlightened kid just learning how to play guitar, I didn't necessarily trace. Anytime I read about somebody in a guitar magazine, I didn't fully trace.

It wasn't as easy to go and just find everything that person did like it is now, you know?

Nick Millevoi: 00:09:27

Yeah.

Jason Shadrick: 00:09:28

And.

Nick Millevoi: 00:09:28

No, exactly. To get that interstellar space, I had to, like, special order it from a weird record store and the dark web. Yeah.

Jason Shadrick: 00:09:36

And. But I remember hearing, oh, he joined Wilco. I was like, okay, cool. I think I've, I've heard, heard that name before.

And then, and then I, I'd seen Wilco with him. I was like, man, this guy's incredible.

And then that's when I kind of went back and looked at his discography and realized he's been, had been putting out records for 20 years at that point, you know. But, yeah, I was more like got into his playing really in Wilco and then went backwards.

Nick Millevoi: 00:10:05

All right, so before we talk about our favorite records, I want to bring in a couple calls we got that sort of defined what Nels Klein sounds like.

So our friend Anthony Pierrog, friend of premier guitar, friend of the podcast, excellent guitar player from maesthetics and many, many other projects he called in. He's worked with Nels, he knows Nels, and he shared his insights on Nels is playing.

Anthony Pirog: 00:10:32

I'm going to try to keep it short. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to, because Nels is my hero.

So the first time I heard him was on the interstellar space revisited record, the duo record they did with Greg Bendian and I remember being very excited by the tone, the effects, the technique, the attitude that Nels plays with, because it was, in my mind, the perfect blend of all of the things that I loved and all the things that were kind of influences on me at the time.

My reaction was kind of like the first time I heard was like, this is the perfect blend of Pat Martino meets Lee Ronaldo meets Fred Frithe, kind of pebbles usage. So it really helped me kind of see that it was possible to take all of these different styles and mix them into some kind of cohesive voice.

You know, this kind of approach, almost genreless approach, was exciting to me with Dan Gatton, too. But Nell's the way that he played and the attitude that he was using really spoke to me.

Nick Millevoi: 00:12:03

Yeah.

So that's like, I feel like Anthony is using different references there saying Pat Martino, Fred Frith, but it's a similar, sort of similar set of things he's sort of putting together there.

Jason Shadrick: 00:12:18

Yeah, I don't hear. I don't know. I know he's probably. I'm sure he's a huge fan of Pat Martino.

I don't hear as much Pat Martino in his playing, although I'm sure he would probably say that Pat was an influence. I know. I definitely hear a lot of John Abercrombie in his playing. And when John passed away, Nels wrote a nice little remembrance piece for us.

Nick Millevoi: 00:12:42

That's right.

Jason Shadrick: 00:12:43

Which was really, really good.

Nick Millevoi: 00:12:45

Yeah, that's a great piece. Nels is a great writer.

Jason Shadrick: 00:12:48

Yeah, he should write more hand hint.

Nick Millevoi: 00:12:51

So we have another call from another friend of the podcast. This is Frank Silvestri from Philadelphia, called in. Here's what Frank had to say.

Frank Silverstry: 00:12:58

The beauty of Nels playing is that, in my opinion, he lives both within his influences and transcends them into a completely new art form. There is absolutely nothing that he can't bring his unique vision to.

His influences range from things like the Birds, the Ord Birds, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, Tom Verlaine, John McLaughlin. And all of this meets in the more modern times with a host of jazz composition touchstones.

ncredible work in Wilco since: 2004

But there's so much more to his sound, the stuff that he does on his solo records. There's an ECM like track from Coward called prayer Wheel, which I just keep going back to, which is unbelievable.

His gorgeous, soaring covers of Carla Blay and Annette peacock tunes that are such an important, beautiful part of his live sets, including those with his latest supergroup, which is called the concentric Quartet, featuring Tom Rainey, Ingrid Laubrack on saxophone and Chris Lightcap on bass. I'd also encourage listeners to check out glad to be unhappy, which is from his lover's record, which, as Nick knows, was performed in Philadelphia.

Seems like a long time ago now. Absolutely gorgeous big band chamber orchestra record that is just dazzling. And we keep coming back to that over and over again.

Of course, you need to check out his full on improvised solo sets, replete with his vintage electro harmonic 16 2nd delay, doing that frippitronics thing, simply not to be missed. And finally, I'll just leave you with this.

Nels is a true ambassador of music, a professor of music, and a gem of a human being to boot, someone who I'm totally honored to call a friend.

Nick Millevoi: 00:14:47

All right, thank you, Frank, for calling in, man, that's a really great set of touchstones in Nels work for anybody to go to. I love all of those things.

Coward was an album that, when it came out, I listened to a lot and kind of forgot about, honestly, until we were putting this together and I revisited a great, great record. All right, so let's talk about our favorite recordings of Nels Klein.

I have a long list in front of me, and I promised I would only pick three and maybe an honorable mention.

Jason Shadrick: 00:15:18

I have three in an honorable mention.

Nick Millevoi: 00:15:20

So why don't you start? We'll go one for one. All right, you give it a start.

Jason Shadrick: 00:15:24

Number one, kicking television. The live. Yeah, the first.

Really, the first record he did with Wilco, that, to me, and I would say, as far as commercial release live stuff, that's pretty good. I'd probably play a close second, would be any later era bootleg live stuff with Wilco.

But that kicking television is like a very good summation of him still finding his place in the band and just kind of realizing what these songs are and kind of finding his way in them. And that always reminded me of that first time I saw him with. With Wilco. So that was number one, kicking television. Wilco.

Nick Millevoi: 00:16:11

Yeah, that is. That might be my favorite. Yeah, I guess that's my favorite. Nell's Wilco album.

Jason Shadrick: 00:16:16

Sky blue sky is pretty close.

Nick Millevoi: 00:16:19

Sky blue sky is great, but neither of those are my choice. I would say that my thing I go to when I say, here's the whole picture of what Nels does outside Wilco.

For me, it's like, the Wilco stuff is easy to find. So what's beyond Wilco? It's the Nellsklein singers. And my favorite singers album is the album instrumental. Instrumentals.

I think that that band, especially that phase of that band is so, those guys play together so well. There's so much energy. They're so sympathetic to each other. They have like such a shared giant vocabulary together.

I've seen them a couple times in that version of the band. And it's always been like this stellar, mind blowing thing. Instrumentals, you know, you could sub that out for the album giant pin.

I also love that one. I went back and forth between which one. Ultimately instrumentals has the song cause for concern, which is my favorite Nells Klein composition. So.

All right, that's my choice. What do you got?

Jason Shadrick: 00:17:30

All right, number two, lovers.

Nick Millevoi: 00:17:33

Mm hmm.

Jason Shadrick: 00:17:34

It's really, really good, you know, and I wish they would have played a, done more live shows with it. But I get it's a hard, that's a hard show to put on, you know?

Nick Millevoi: 00:17:48

It is a hard show to put on. In fact, I'm familiar with the show, yes. That was put on. And I guess this is a good spot. I'll talk about, you know, there's a secret.

Knows Klein Lovers albums album that exists there. That doesn't exist.

Jason Shadrick: 00:18:02

Not a secret.

Nick Millevoi: 00:18:03

There's a secret. What's that? Not a secret no more. No. So lovers. I love the album lovers. When that came out, I was so excited. It's a double album.

It's like mood music is the idea is the concept behind it, which is something I totally vibe on sixties mood music. And he does cool things like do an arrangement of a sonic youth song.

The song snare girl in that style, which is like, you know, so such a nels Klein thing to do. So I love that album.

And there was a project a few years ago, and this is what Frank was referring to in his call about nels brought the Lovers ensemble to Philadelphia to do a project called Lovers for Philadelphia. And he did a whole new album of arrangements of songs by Philadelphia based composers.

It was put together by Ars Nova Workshop, which is an arts nonprofit here in Philadelphia. And so I was asked to play the second guitar part, which on the original Lovers record is Julian Lodge's part.

And so we did a set of the Lovers material from the record, took a break, and then did a set of this new lovers for Philadelphia record. And Mandev playing the Lovers stuff from the record was this totally amazing experience.

ew set of this large ensemble: 1718

There's an NPR film about it that you can find from jazz night in America but it only contains, I think it's 50 minutes of music taken from both sets. So you only get a couple songs from, from the Philadelphia album but it doesn't exist. That was it.

That was the only time this music was ever performed. But there was some really, really deep cut Philly.

Jason Shadrick: 00:19:59

Like what?

Nick Millevoi: 00:20:00

Like Philly Soul.

So we did, you know, the standout for me was that Nels and I did a duo performance of Eddie Lang's April kisses which honestly I was not a deep Eddie Lang fan before that. That really opened up Eddie Lang for me and I did a big deep dive after that which, you know, we can talk about Eddie Lang anytime you want.

I am excited about Eddie Lang. We did Brenda and the tabulations. There's a song that's like a deep cut Philly soul song. We did the closing pieces. Lala means I love you.

There was a Bayard Lancaster song in there. I don't have the list in front of me. And it was five years ago. There was, yeah, I.

Jason Shadrick: 00:20:48

Anyway, so it wasn't. No studio recording exists.

Nick Millevoi: 00:20:52

The only recording that exists is on some hard drives as well as some of the songs are in this NPR documentary. All right, look up Nels Klein, lovers for Philadelphia. It's up there.

Jason Shadrick: 00:21:06

We need an update on the Philly sequel.

Nick Millevoi: 00:21:08

Yeah, it was a, it was a very special event and getting chosen to do that was very, very cool.

Jason Shadrick: 00:21:14

So, yep, my track, my album, lovers.

Nick Millevoi: 00:21:17

Okay, so I'm not gonna pick lovers because I was going to pick lovers and we talked about it. I will say that my. All right, here's. Let's get weird with it. Nels Klein, Jim Black, Tim Byrne, the veil. Do you know that record?

Jason Shadrick: 00:21:33

I do not. But with those, with those names, probably not a lot of toe tappers, if you will.

Nick Millevoi: 00:21:40

Man, it rocks so, so hard. That is like such an, such an avant garde supergroup. I'm a huge fan of Tim Burn and Jim Black.

If you're not familiar with those guys, with either of those guys, I think that this record is, is one to start with. It hits super hard. They have a great improv language and it's like, I mean, this is a pretty out there one.

I would say that like, you know, Anthony mentioned the interstellar space record. I mentioned it. That was like pretty out there. But those tunes are like more identifiable than this is like that way out. All right.

Jason Shadrick: 00:22:20

All right, next. I have to go. Maybe it's just recency, bias currents, constellations by the Nels Klein's four.

Nick Millevoi: 00:22:31

Great record.

Jason Shadrick: 00:22:31

Yeah. So it's Nels, Scott Colley, Tom Rainey, and Julian Lodge. And it was, for me, it was between this and then the duo record that Nels and Julian did.

But I liked having them both on electric guitar. They play a really great version of Carla Blaise temporarily. And to me, like, I feel like Julian and Nels. Cause Julian's on lovers.

They did a duo record, and then they did this quartet record, and I just feel like they're playing is so complimentary.

Nick Millevoi: 00:23:03

Oh, yeah.

Jason Shadrick: 00:23:03

You know that it just. I. And I get it. Nels has Wilco. Julian has his own thing. But to really have those two put, like, a band.

e. I've had. This came out in: 2018

Nick Millevoi: 00:23:27

I have, yeah. I saw them do this in a barn in New Hope, Pennsylvania. This super. I didn't know what I was getting into.

I just knew it was at a barn and went up there.

It's this beautiful farm owned by, I think the story is a racehorse veterinarian who has this beautiful barn with a stage and an amazing sound system. And this band played, and it was.

Jason Shadrick: 00:23:54

It was this lineup.

Nick Millevoi: 00:23:54

Totally this idyllic setting and incredible set.

Jason Shadrick: 00:23:59

Was it this lineup?

Nick Millevoi: 00:24:00

Yeah, it was this lineup. So, yeah, Scott Colley wasn't playing bass. Devon Hoff was.

Jason Shadrick: 00:24:09

Okay, so those are my three. I have a honorable mention we'll get to after your third.

Nick Millevoi: 00:24:15

Okay, so my third is. I mentioned it before, Mike Watts, contemplating the engine room, which is a punk rock opera written by Watt.

Like I said, it's the first thing I heard of Nels and knew I was hearing nels and really tuned into it. And this is, like, the rock side of Nels is playing. He doesn't. He uses. I mean, he uses, like, a fair amount of effects on here.

It's not like, you know, he's not plugging straight into an amp, but there are. He's kind of more of a stripped down, like, rock and roll sound.

I think that, like, I was listening to it this morning and thinking that the verlaine thing is, like, of the records that I mentioned, it's probably, like, most present here. Not that he sounds. He doesn't sound like Tom Verlaine at all, but just that the types of lines he plays in a rock context, his sound is. Is awesome.

And Watt is just. I mean, Watt is like, a punk rock folk hero. And hearing him and Nels together is, is so awesome.

They've done a few things together and to me, this is the one. This is a, for me, it deeply inspired the way I play rock music. What's your honorable mention?

Jason Shadrick: 00:25:26

My honorable mention is any. It's not even really an album, but there have been some official bootleg tracks released.

But anything of Nels playing with Tedesky Truxx band now, like, on paper, you're like, that might not be a great fit. It's an incredible fit. Like, to hear him and Derek, I mean, it's like him and Nels and Julian really fit together.

Surprisingly, him and Derek really fit together as well.

So hearing Nell's, you know, like, if they were to add another guitar player to Tedescu trucks band, having it be Nell's Klein would not be the worst idea in the world.

Nick Millevoi: 00:26:09

Yeah.

Jason Shadrick: 00:26:09

You know what I mean? Like, it would totally, totally fit. So they put out a live at the Beacon EP. Tedescu trucks did.

And Nels plays on one of the live tracks and it's well worth searching out. It's great. Highly recommended.

Nick Millevoi: 00:26:30

Yeah. I would say that that speaks to Nels as a collaborator. I think that, like, Nels is probably just like one of the.

He's one of the most sympathetic guitar players to sit in with any band. Because I was thinking about this. I mean, with them, like you said, any videos of them playing together are amazing.

But also there's an album that Nels did with Modeski, Martin and Wooden man just adds to the band. That's what a collaborator is supposed to do. He just, he doesn't.

He doesn't stand out in a way that he's, like, taking over, which I think is some, which is a role that somebody can play when they collaborate with the band. This is my show. And, no, he just. He makes the sound bigger.

And I think that that's what he did with Wilko when he came into Wilco, you know, I remember thinking, like, is Nels just gonna, like, rip all over these tunes? Which at the time, I was very. I was like, yeah, but he didn't. He. He adds to the sound of the band. He adds color, he adds textures.

It's like, you know, just this dimensionality to that band sound that, you know, that's. That's the best thing. I've been lucky enough to have Nell sit in with my own band a couple times and have also felt that feeling when.

When we've done that. And it's. It's very cool. He's he's really, really great at that.

Jason Shadrick: 00:28:06

Dig it.

Nick Millevoi: 00:28:07

So we got a couple calls from people who wanted to share their favorite tracks and favorite songs from Nell. So here's Alex Kallenberger, who's a guitar player from Portland, Oregon.

Alex Callenberger: 00:28:16

First record I ever heard. I was working in a Pennsylvania record shop and I heard about this guitar player, Nels Klein, and ordered the record at the time.

It's the Nell's Klein singer's instrumentals record. Didn't know anything about him. Just had heard it was a cool record and got it into the shop, put it into the cd player in the shop house system.

And the first song, a mug like mine started playing and it just blew my mind. I was a big master rock fan growing up as a kid, and at that time, like, wasn't really listening to that style anymore again.

But this was totally different. The guitar player was just fluid, aggressive, angular, and just out of this world.

fan ever since. And that was: 2002

Nick Millevoi: 00:29:15

All right, so another vote for instrumentals there, man. Yeah, that first track is pretty ripping. Do you know that record?

Jason Shadrick: 00:29:22

No, I need to check it out.

Nick Millevoi: 00:29:23

I know what you're gonna listen to this afternoon.

Jason Shadrick: 00:29:25

Yes.

Nick Millevoi: 00:29:26

All right. Friend of the podcast Maggie Summers called in and shared some of her picks.

Maggie Somers: 00:29:31

I wanted to share two Nels performances that have really stayed with me. One was at a house concert, and I wish I could remember who he was performing it with, but it was a Charlie Hayden piece called Pacific Pine highway.

And it was just riveting and beautiful and so much feeling in it. I just loved it. And then the other was a performance I know you're familiar with when lovers was performed in full at union transfer.

Just an amazing, memorable night. Would actually love, love an encore performance of that.

Nick Millevoi: 00:30:17

All right, thank you, Maggie. Do you have a favorite time you've seen Nels play?

Jason Shadrick: 00:30:25

I've only seen him a couple times. One was with a was. I've seen him twice with Wilco and then once in a trio. I'm blanking on who was in it right now. It could have been the singers.

Amendola and. Amendola and Devon Hoff, right?

Nick Millevoi: 00:30:47

Yeah. And then later, Trevor Dunn.

Jason Shadrick: 00:30:49

Okay. I don't know if it was Trevor or Devin, but it's definitely Amendola on drums. It was in New York. Yeah.

It's like every time you see him, it can be something completely different.

Nick Millevoi: 00:31:02

That's. Yes, that's the thing. It's been so many. I've seen him so many times. He has a.

As you might guess, he has a special relationship, I would say, with Philadelphia in that he just comes and plays here a lot. So I've been seeing him as long as I've been interested in, like, experimental guitar music.

It would be hard to pin down a favorite performance of his. The one I would go to the most is I saw him do a set as part of the Outsiders festival here in Philadelphia.

That was him, Jamal, Eddie, and Takuma and Chad Taylor. And I think it was two sets, actually, and just total improv set. And it was so awesome.

I remember so much about what happened, and, you know, just, like, maladine is the grooviest person on earth, and Chad is also the grooviest person on earth. And, you know, so that was a. That was the vibe.

And they just, like, they pushed it so far and took it so many different places, and Nels is just, like, a master of sound with all that. So that's probably my favorite.

Jason Shadrick: 00:32:13

Dig it.

Nick Millevoi: 00:32:14

All right, so we should probably, you know, we picked our favorites, and we're avoiding probably the most obvious thing to talk about.

So I thought, I wanted to make sure we hear from friend of the podcast Alex Lewis, who wants to take us there, and we can talk a little about maybe the most obvious, most popular piece of Nels Klein's lead guitar playing.

Alex Lewis: 00:32:39

Long time listener, first time caller.

And for some reason, I've decided I don't mind being the guy who brings up impossible Germany, in significant part because I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that song and nels performance on it, on the recording, but also just because it feels so important in my own history as a guitar player. I remember I was a freshman in college, and I remember that song coming out. I think it was a single.

And just hearing the long guitar performance that's so beautiful in that whole song and that sort of epic slow dance of a solo that blossoms into the sort of television or even, like, St. Lizzie, like, double guitar narrative now, those little flourishes over the repeating riff that happens later in the song, shredding noise.

I still think it's beautiful, even though I probably haven't listened to it for a few years now, but, yeah. Curious to hear your thoughts on impossible Germany. Thanks, guys.

Nick Millevoi: 00:33:42

All right, jason, what do you think about impossible Germany?

Jason Shadrick: 00:33:45

I mean, I think Alex nailed it pretty good. I. The thin Lizzie thing, it's like. Yeah, I could see that. I could hear that.

Nick Millevoi: 00:33:53

Yeah. I never thought about the thin lizziness of that solo, but it's there. Yeah, it's guitar harmony. That's not, um. It's like, uh. It's this melod.

This warm, melodic guitar harmony. Yeah, it's not like this soaring, epic thing. I mean, it's epic in a way, but it's a. It's more like a warm embrace.

Like, oh, now buddy's coming in and playing this line.

Jason Shadrick: 00:34:18

I mean, that's probably one of the highlights of any Wilco livestat. It's him ripping through impossible Germany. Yeah. Highly recommend. Go.

Nick Millevoi: 00:34:27

Yeah, that's. Is that the most popular recording of Nels Cline?

Jason Shadrick: 00:34:32

It has to be. Did you. It was no fault of nels. Yeah, like, it has to be like, I can't even imagine what number two would be. Yeah, but, yeah, that's. That's the one.

I remember when I saw them the first 1st time. That was the standout of the set. I'm like, what was that?

Nick Millevoi: 00:34:55

You know, when I. I've only seen Wilco with Nels once. Well, I've only seen Wilco once. And it was. They opened for Neil Young and it was. I think it was. It was some.

They were touring on Sky Blue Sky.

I don't know how long after it came out was, but I knew the song and I remember I have a recording of that show and really, really awesome performance, hearing them do that live and hearing nels open it up and I remember thinking, like, I remember specifically having the thought, listening to them do that live, thinking, Nils Klein is the greatest rock guitar player.

Jason Shadrick: 00:35:35

I mean, he's indies rock, indie rock's most adventurous. That's for sure.

Nick Millevoi: 00:35:41

Yeah.

Jason Shadrick: 00:35:41

I mean, you know, way to go, Jeff Tweedy.

Nick Millevoi: 00:35:44

Good idea.

Jason Shadrick: 00:35:45

I know. I would love to know, like, all right, we need another guitar player in the band who is person saying, you know, what about Nils Klein?

And I mean, I'm like, wow, that's a left of center thing. But again, on paper, maybe a little unusual, but in context, it totally fits. Totally works.

Nick Millevoi: 00:36:08

My understanding of that decision based on nothing except stuff I've read in interviews and things like that, is that Wilco? We're at a point where the band had been changing.

Jay Bennett had left, and Jim O'Rourke had been involved with the mixing of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and then he was involved with Ghost is born and the production of that. And he plays guitar on there as well. And I think that there's a lot of.

And Jim O'Rourke and Jeff Tweedy were doing a lot of stuff together, the two of them. And Glenn Cacci have the band Luce Fur, which released two albums first one had come out around that same time, too, and then Jim moved to Japan.

And I think, you know, Jim is, for those not familiar, he is like, I mean, he's a pop genius, but he's also. He's quite the avant garde's person. And so I think that that probably. That must have put it in Tweety's head to go a little.

To go, like you said, left of center with his. With his choice on. Like, though Jim was never. He was never in Wilco or, like, as far as I know, never performed with him or anything.

But, you know, Nels had been in a band called the Geraldine Fibers, which I think had played shows with Wilco. So they, like, they had connected that way. I mean, Tweedie's a pretty hip dude.

He probably also knew Nels and Speardo records, too, but, you know, knew that Nels played rock music as well. And. Yeah. So I think it was just that connection from, like, get the guy from the Geraldine fibers, he does some freak guitar stuff, right.

Jason Shadrick: 00:37:47

And he can also just flat out rip some straight ahead rock guitar.

Nick Millevoi: 00:37:51

Yeah.

Jason Shadrick: 00:37:52

You know.

Nick Millevoi: 00:37:52

Yeah. Because the thing is, not everybody who's a guitar freak in, you know, that's doing, like, noise improv records, can do that role.

In fact, it's like those things are off often very separate skill sets. So, like, you know, I know a lot of people who are freak guitar players who wouldn't fit into that role in such an informed way.

But Nels is, like, part of the thing about him is how encyclopedic he is in his synthesis of the deepest guitar influences. And all of the guitar influences.

Jason Shadrick: 00:38:28

I dig. All right, well, I have a lot of homework to do. I'm going to be rocking the instrumentals record all afternoon.

Nick Millevoi: 00:38:35

Yeah, man.

Jason Shadrick: 00:38:36

Instead of going to my meetings, I'm going to cancel. Tell my secretary to clear my schedule.

Nick Millevoi: 00:38:41

You have a meeting with instrumentals, I.

Jason Shadrick: 00:38:43

Have a meeting with instruments.

Nick Millevoi: 00:38:44

You have a meeting with the singers.

Jason Shadrick: 00:38:46

That's right. That's true. That's true. All right, well, thanks again to jampetals for sponsoring today's episode. And remember, you can get at us at.

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