FOR over 20 years with his band Wilco, Jeff Tweedy has continually demonstrated that he is one of the most erudite songwriters out there.

Next week, Jeff will be in Manchester for a solo appearance during which he will be revisiting some of those songs plus others from various side projects including Loose Fur and Golden Smog.

For some performers, a solo outing may prove a daunting prospect but Jeff admits it’s something he enjoys.

“I’ve always spent a few nights a year doing it and a lot of years I’ve done more than a few nights,” he said.

“I think it’s healthy and helpful to present a song by yourself, It teaches you a lot about the songs and how they connect to an audience.

“I also like the freedom of not having to write a strict setlist and being able to be a bit more capable of veering off from the plan based on your interactions with the audience and the feeling within the room.

“Having said that, Wilco have always been pretty fleet footed. If there’s a bar in the room and it’s a Friday night when the audience may be a bit more boisterous, you can look at the setlist and see that there might be a problem coming up about four songs ahead. It’s not hard to figure out that the ballads might get disturbed and move on from them.”

Last year Jeff released Together At Last which featured 11 band songs which he reworked. But, he says, it wasn’t a question of improving the original, rather giving them a different feel.

“Because I’m in the studio so much I have accumulated a lot of solo acoustic recordings and I thought it would be worthwhile to share them.

“Songs I wrote yesterday feel different a day later, so I don’t have a problem doing different versions of them.

“I don’t spend that much time looking back, I don’t think I’m a particularly nostalgic person.”

Much of Jeff’s music can be seen as commentaries on social issues and he is acutely aware of the power of a song.

“When you make a connection with an artist or a song or an album it is a powerful affirmation that you are not alone,” he said. “It has certainly always been a great comfort to me. We can become very dear friends just through music.

“I like to think that all art communicates in a way that is profound and inspires more art.

“I think the inspiration to create and make something is more important than to sit around and accept destruction.”

Although Jeff is concerned about the current state of American society - “they are pretty uncertain times, that’s for sure” - he insists his outlook remains upbeat.

“I’m a pretty hopeful person and I’m generally optimistic,” he said.

“There is a level of discomfort with our government which I’ve never experienced and it’s pretty discouraging on a daily basis. But at the same time I feel there is a powerful groundswell of resistance and people wanting to take a little more control over how the country works than in the past.

“For the world as a whole, at any given time, we are aware of so much suffering that is unique to our generation. I don’t think we’ve ever been so aware of so much all at once; being able to know about so much sadness and heartbreak.

“There have always been cynics, out there and it is very easy to just sit and pick apart flaws in things.

“In contrast it takes a lot of will to bring something about in the world that was not there before and lot of strength to share that.”

Jeff Tweedy, Albert Hall, Manchester, Thursday, February 1. Details from www.seetickets.com