Ohtis and Johanna Samuels team up on cover of Wilco's "Via Chicago"

On Wednesday (3 November) Samuels and Ohtis will begin their joint US tour at Bloomington's Nightshop, and ahead of their 10 tour dates, Samuels and Ohtis have unveiled a cover of Wilco's Summerteeth song "Via Chicago".

Samuels says of the cover and working with Ohtis, "I had heard Ohtis a handful of years ago and fell in love with a record of theirs, Curve of Earth. I loved the way Sam wrote. Then I ended up running into the Ohtis boys at a festival in the UK a couple years ago and we became pals. A bit later, Sam (Swinson) and I were hanging in LA and decided to sing some songs into a zoom mic for fun. Needless to say, Wilco is a formative part of my musical childhood and "Via Chicago" had just come on the shuffle in my car. We’ve attempted to tour together for a few years now … the recording was made in 2019. I still love to listen to it tho!"

Ohtis' Sam Swinson adds, "We first met Johanna at End of the Road Festival back in the pre-pandemic. We'd been working on a series of cover song collaborations, and we asked Johanna if she'd like to do a song. I picked her up in Highland Park and we stopped by a garage sale. I found a clear blue Las Vegas visor and Johanna found a sparkly motorcycle helmet and we came back to EaHo to jam. She said she wanted to cover "Via Chicago" and it felt alright to me. We ran it a few times and got both vocals and guitar in one take with a handheld. Wilco is one of a few holdouts of bands I liked in high school. Jeff Tweedy and me were born at the same hospital in Belleville, Illinois."