Bop Tweedie Lets It Go

“Carry Me Away,” the lead song from Bop Tweedie’s new album Let It Go Let It Go, opens on a note curling skyward over a shambolic rhythm. Tweedie’s voice rests on a pillow of background vocals as it speaks of being lifted out of present circumstances, taken elsewhere. We could be anyone, do anything, go anywhere, the song suggests. At a time when so many are hemmed in, it’s a hopeful message, and one that took a very long time to craft. As Robert Tweedie himself said, when he got the box of CDs in the mail, ​“I thought, ​‘this is three years of my life.’”

Tweedie, who is 64, has been an active part of New Haven’s music scene for decades, playing with 23 Hello, Media Circus, Chronicles Of DAISY, and Bop Tweedie and the Days. He was an actor in his 20s, but ​“I always felt like I was drawn to the piano. Every time I saw one I always wanted to play. My parents never caught on to that” when he was growing up in Meriden, he said; they gave him a clarinet. He started playing guitar in the late 1970s.

“When I was in the Navy I was friends with a bunch of musicians,” he said. He bought his guitar from a friend who’d bought it from another friend. ​“He bought it for half of what the other guy paid for it, and after he played his two Led Zeppelin riffs, he sold it to me for $75. I still have it. I played a lot of songs on it.”

The self-taught Tweedie had a knack for experimentation. Over time, ​“some of these crazy noises I was making actually were chords.” From the beginning, ​“I always played my own songs…. I was lucky that people would jam with my stuff.”

When he got out of the Navy he went to nursing school in Brattleboro, Vt. ​“As soon as I finished I went down to New Haven and started playing,” he said. It was the early 1980s, and he had friends living in town. ​“I got there at the beginning of the Grotto,” the beloved Ninth Square club that ran in the Ninth Square for much of the decade. The Grotto ​“was the most wonderful, remarkable place. It was a place where people showed up to support each other,” Tweedie said. After playing in several bands, he said, ​“I did solo for a long time.”

He started writing the songs for Let It Go Let It Go about a decade ago — about the same time he left a job in a nursing home to start working as a medic on film sets, which he does today. ​“My last record came out 10 years ago, and maybe one of the songs was written back then,” he said. He interjected a comment about how long it takes him to make a record, joking that ​“104 would be a nice age to put my fourth record out.” But a few years ago he found himself with more than enough songs to make an album. ​“My goal was to try to get all the songs I wrote recorded. That’s never going to happen. But these songs were ready to go when I was ready to go,”

He decamped to On Deck Sound Studio in Northfield with musician Tracy Walton. ​“It was mostly me and Tracy Walton,” Tweedie said, as Tweedie sang lead vocals and played guitar and Walton played bass, guitars and drums. In the first week of recording, Tweedie said, ​“we did basic acoustic guitar and vocal tracks.” Walton sent Tweedie rough mixes of his own performances, and Tweedie had the reaction that most people have to hearing their own voices: ​“It just sounded so bad to me!” Tweedie said. ​“I thought, ​‘this is killing me. I’m so bummed out. I thought I’d screwed everything up.”

Walton disagreed. ​“He called me and said, ​‘when are you coming back?’” He reassured Tweedie that all was well. ​“It just took off from there,” Tweedie said.

In the next three years, Tweedie and Walton ​“started adding stuff in to fill it in.” That meant ​“Why Am I The Only One?” wafted along on a suite of delicate acoustic work, while ​“Glad I Live Today” comes across as a tongue-in-cheek lost ​‘60s pop hit and ​“Walking Shoes” feels country fried. Each of the nine songs on Let It Go Let It Go is part of the whole; each stands on its own, too.

It also meant a parade of other musicians passing through the studio added their own contributions. Julia Autumn Ford — one half of the band Belle of the Fall with Walton — ​“actually works at the studio and helped engineer it,” Tweedie said. She sang background vocals and ​“has an amazing voice.” Jeff Wiederschall (previously of Miracle Legion) played drums. Glen Nelson played keyboards, from piano and clavinet to Wurlitzer and synthesizer. ​“He was a one-take guy,” Tweedie said. Bobby Pickett of Creamery Station played violin and lap steel, while Richard Brown on saxophone ​“just blew me away. I think that’s one of the best solos I ever heard him play,” Tweedie said. Even Danny Draher — of Dr. John’s band — threw in a guitar solo.

“I was just really, really fortunate that these guys showed up,” Tweedie said. ​“It’s great to have talented friends.” Meanwhile, Tweedie was still working as a medic on film shoots. ​“We would get a lot of work done, and then I’d have a job for two months,” he said.

Recording finished just before the Covid-19-related shutdowns came into effect. In between bouts of work, Tweedie and Walton finished mixing and got the recording mastered. The cover photo was taken by Wiederschall on a beach in Rhode Island. ​“It was a really cold February day, but it was really sunny. I was in the water most of the time,” Tweedie said.

Now that the record is out, Tweedie is mostly looking forward to getting the music out, and into people’s ears. He misses performing. ​“I would love to play.” he said. ​“I enjoy doing it, and I like to have fun.” Joking, he said, ​“I think maybe in 10 years when my next record comes out, we’ll have live music again.” Given the title of his album, his abiding attitude isn’t surprising. And letting go of expectations, running forward into the future with grit and humor, is maybe just the right message for now.

Let It Go Let It Go can be purchased physically through Amazon and is available for streaming everywhere.