“I reached for an acoustic guitar to idly play. Jeff’s like, ‘That’s the most expensive guitar in this building... Just so you know’”: Cut Worms’ Max Clarke on recording with Jeff Tweedy – and the indie icon's epic gear collection

Max Clarke, aka, Cut Worms performs onstage.

In the immortal words of 38 Special, “Just hold on loosely, but don’t let go. If you cling too tightly, you’re gonna lose control.” Those are the lyrics I offer to Cut Worms’ Max Clarke as he describes relinquishing control of his music to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who took on the role of producer for Cut Worms’ latest LP, Transmitter.

The indie singer/songwriter, who lifted his band name from William Blake’s Proverbs of Hell – “The cut worm forgives the plow” – stares blankly back at me through our Zoom meeting, completely bemused by my callback to one of classic rock’s great wordsmiths.