IN: Tweedy was born in Belleville, Illinois, on August 25, 1967, the fourth child of Bob and JoAnn Tweedy (nee Werkmeister). Bob Tweedy (died Aug. 4, 2017) worked at Alton & Southern Railroad in East St. Louis while Jo Ann was a kitchen designer. Tweedy has three siblings: older brother Greg Tweedy (died in 2013), brother Steven Tweedy, and sister Debbie Voll. Tweedy's mother bought Tweedy his first guitar when he was six years old, although he did not begin to play it seriously until he was twelve.

Tweedy has been prone to migraines throughout his entire life, forcing him to miss forty days of elementary school in one year. While he attempted to regulate his use of painkillers, he was never able to stop their use for more than five weeks. Tweedy attributes this to comorbidity with major depressive disorder and severe panic attacks. In 2004, he entered a dual diagnosis rehabilitation clinic in order to receive treatment for an addiction to prescription painkillers. Tweedy quit smoking the next year; John Stirratt claimed afterward that this significantly improved the focus of the band.  Tweedy is married to former talent agent Sue Miller. Tweedy first met Miller when he was trying to get Uncle Tupelo booked at Cubby Bear, where Miller worked. Miller opened a club in Chicago named Lounge Ax in 1989, and booked Uncle Tupelo for 16 shows over four years. Miller and Tweedy began dating in 1991 and they were married on August 9, 1995. Sue was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Tweedy said "she's doing great now." Tweedy also said that music is a healthy distraction in difficult times such as these. They have two sons: Spencer and Sam. Spencer was the drummer for pre-teen rock band The Blisters and a new band called Tully Monster. In 2008, Spencer joined Wilco on stage at Madison Square Garden to play drums on their song "The Late Greats," while opening for Neil Young.  Miller is Jewish, and Tweedy's oldest son had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. During his son's ceremony, Tweedy played an acoustic version of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young."

What else was going on in his personal life?

OUT: Sue was diagnosed with cancer in 2014.


IN: Robert Wilson "Robb" Royer (born December 6, 1942 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of Bread from 1968 to 1971. While he was with the band, they had a #5 UK/#1 US hit single with "Make It With You". He was replaced by Larry Knechtel in 1971.

In 1982 Royer wrote the song "Quittin' Time" (co-written with Roger Linn) which eight years later was recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter and won an ASCAP Airplay award. Royer traveled to Nashville to receive the award and stayed with Griffin, who had previously relocated from L.A. to Nashville. Larry Knechtel had also been living and working as a session musician in Nashville. Royer relocated to Nashville in 1994.  Todd Cerney was already a grammy-nominated songwriter when Royer met him in 1994 at Jim Della Croce's house. Cerney had written two top-forty songs (Loverboy's "Notorious" and Restless Heart's "I'll Still Be Loving You," which reached number one on the Country charts). Cerney had established a private recording studio in his home where he engineered a number of other singer-songwriters' albums.  Griffin, Royer and Cerney first collaborated by co-writing the song "Kyrie" in 1994. Knechtel later joined the trio and together they performed and co-wrote songs (including the 1995 song "Slow Train") under the band name "Toast". Toast performed at various Nashville venues including the Bluebird, Third and Lindsley, and 12th & Porter. They wrote and performed their own songs including such titles as "Road Kill," "Knechtelodeon," "No More Smokin'," "Grenadine," "Magdelena," and "Radio Dixie." The group used session drummers for their recordings and performances. The group would later be known as Radio Dixie in 1998. The name change was intended to help with promotion of the group, but the group disbanded by the end of 1998. Royer and Cerney continued to write together, generating additional titles including "Hurtin' Cowboy," "New Orleans Prayer," "I Believe I Kissed an Angel," and "Beside Myself."

did they collaborate with anyone?

OUT: The group used session drummers for their recordings and performances.


IN: Seward was born in on May 16, 1801, in the small community of Florida, New York, in Orange County. He was the fourth son of Samuel Sweezy Seward and his wife Mary (Jennings) Seward. Samuel Seward was a wealthy landowner and slaveholder in New York State; slavery was not fully abolished in the state until 1827. Florida was located some 60 miles (97 km) north of New York City, west of the Hudson River, and was a small rural village of perhaps a dozen homes.

When the war started Seward turned his attention to making sure that foreign powers did not interfere in the conflict. When in April 1861, the Confederacy announced that it would authorize privateers, Seward sent word to the American representatives abroad that the U.S. would become party to the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law of 1856, outlawing such vessels, but Britain required that, if the U.S. were to become a party, the ratification would not require action to be taken against Confederate vessels.  The Palmerston government considered recognizing the Confederacy as an independent nation. Seward was willing to wage war against Britain if it did, and drafted a strong letter for the American Minister in London, Charles Francis Adams, to read to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Russell. Seward submitted it to Lincoln, who, realizing that the Union was in no position to battle both the South and Britain, toned it down considerably, and made it merely a memorandum for Adams's guidance.  In May 1861, Britain and France declared the South to be belligerents by international law, and their ships were entitled to the same rights as U.S.-flagged vessels to remain 24 hours in neutral ports. Nevertheless, Seward was pleased that both nations would not meet with Confederate commissioners or recognize the South as a nation. Britain did not challenge the Union blockade of Confederate ports, and Seward wrote that if Britain continued to avoid interfering in the war, he would not be overly sensitive to what wording they used to describe their policies.  In November 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail ship RMS Trent and removed two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. They were held in Boston amid jubilation in the North and outrage in Britain. The British minister in Washington, Lord Lyons, demanded their release, as the U.S. had no right to stop a British-flagged ship traveling between neutral ports. The British drew up war plans to attack New York and sent reinforcements to Canada. Seward worked to defuse the situation. He persuaded Lyons to postpone delivering an ultimatum, and told Lincoln that the prisoners would have to be released. Lincoln did let them go, reluctantly, on technical grounds. Relations between the U.S. and Britain soon improved; in April 1862, Seward and Lyons signed a treaty they had negotiated allowing each nation to inspect the other's ships for contraband slaves. In November 1862, with America's image in Britain improved by the issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, the British cabinet decided against recognition of the Confederacy as a nation.  Confederate agents in Britain had arranged for the construction of Confederate ships, most notably the CSS Alabama, which ravaged Union shipping after her construction in 1862. With two more such vessels under construction the following year, supposedly for French interests, Seward pressed Palmerston not to allow them to leave port, and, nearly complete, they were seized by British officials in October 1863.

What were his views on diplomacy?

OUT:
When the war started Seward turned his attention to making sure that foreign powers did not interfere in the conflict.