Songfacts®:

• Here, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy adopts a conservative mindset to watch immigrants "streaming over the southern border." "I don't think it's helpful to deny that you have those things in your makeup," he told Uncut magazine. "I don't know how you address your shadow-self without realizing you have one."
• Tweedy cast his mom as the less enlightened parent in the song, which wasn't really the case in his upbringing. "My father was much more reactionary in his politics, and maybe a bit more closed-minded," he explained. "But he had an amazing journey and epiphany as he got older. And my mother wasn't around to see it."
• "I Am My Mother" is the opening track of Wilco's 12th studio album, Cruel Country. The idea that Wilco were a country band when they first started out inspired the title. According to Tweedy, the band has always incorporated elements of country music into their work, but they have been hesitant to fully embrace that label. However, after years of experience and experimentation, they now find it liberating to work within the boundaries of the country genre.
• Cruel Country contains 21 tracks created with all six members of the band playing together in The Loft in Chicago. This was the first time they had done so since their 2011 album, The Whole Love. The record is notable for its use of almost entirely live takes with minimal overdubbing.