Watch Jeff Tweedy Cover Doobie Brothers & Grateful Dead In San Francisco

Jeff Tweedy recently tipped his proverbial hat towards another two legendary Bay Area bands at his second of two solo shows in San Francisco. The Wilco frontman selected members of his solo band to sing The Doobie Brothers and Grateful Dead covers last Thursday (March 26) during his encore at The Fillmore.

One night earlier, Jeff Tweedy unveiled takes on Sly & The Family Stone and Creedence Clearwater Revival classics at The Fillmore. The Belleville, Illinois native explained the concept he’s leaned into on his tour in support of Twilight Overdrive before rolling out the covers on night two. “We do at least one song a night that nobody else gets to hear. We never play it again and it usually has something to do with the town where we are playing, or the city or the state or the region or the venue or something,” Tweedy told the crowd.

“Unfortunately, San Francisco has very little music to draw upon,” Tweedy joked. “So we drove ourselves nuts trying to figure out what song to play. We learned this one in about a half an hour this afternoon.”

Sima Cunningham passed off bass duties to guitarist Liam Kazar as she guided the ensemble through The Doobie Brothers’ 1979 smash “What A Fool Believes.” The Doobie Brothers were formed in San Jose, California. Michael McDonald wrote “What A Fool Believes” with Kenny Loggins for inclusion on the band’s 1978 album Minute By Minute.

Jeff Tweedy then traded in an electric guitar for an acoustic. “This one was maybe the most obvious, but we had to do it,” Tweedy alerted the audience to introduce a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” sung by his son Sammy Tweedy.

“Ripple” wasn’t a debut unlike nearly all of the other geographically-fitting covers played by Jeff Tweedy and his band. The Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter-penned Dead tune had been previously performed sporadically at both Jeff Tweedy solo and Wilco shows. Jeff and sons Sammy and Spencer Tweedy also covered the tune from the Grateful Dead’s iconic 1970 album American Beauty during two “The Tweedy Show” livestream broadcasts in April of 2020.

Watch Jeff Tweedy and his band cover “What A Fool Believes” and “Ripple” in San Francisco below: