Interview with Xandy Chelmis of Wednesday and MJ Lenderman & The Wind

Xandy Chelmis is holding down the groove in Alternative Rock. As the pedal steel guitarist for Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, Chelmis is the common thread that weaves together their rip-torn musical tapestries. 

Chelmis’s passion for music began with his parents. Before he fell in love with Jason Molina and Jeff Tweedy, there were Neil Young LPs and Dr. Demento radio sets. His childhood favorites sparked a desire to play live, and growing up in North Carolina offered a vibrant community to test the waters. Since meeting Kalry Hartzman of Wednesday and Jake (MJ) Lenderman in college, Xandy has assisted in revitalizing the steel guitar’s place in the Alt Rock canon. 

Over the last five years, he’s been a crucial part of Wednesday’s rise, and Lenderman’s live band, The Wind, is nearly unrecognizable without Chelmis. With Wednesday, he alternates between lap and pedal, and with MJ, he primarily plays pedal, except for the occasional violin arrangement. Although the inclusion of pedal steel in Rock is nothing revolutionary, bands are increasingly recruiting steel players to tap into the twang that Hartzman and Lenderman employ. If you’re a fan of “Wristwatch” or “Elderberry Wine,” you likely have Xandy to thank. 

In September of 2025, Wednesday released their critically acclaimed sixth studio album, Bleeds. Xandy is all over the record; his dazzling steel is present on the jangly “Phish Pepsi,” however, Karly affirmed his legacy on “Pick Up That Knife.” When she heard the story of Xandy throwing up in a Death Grips crowd, she added it to her list of things to include in future songs. In the middle of the track, as Karly is on the verge of a meltdown, she pauses, singing, “[He] threw up in the pit at a Death Grips show.” It’s one of Karly’s most humorous lyrics, and like many things in Wednesday, it wouldn’t be possible without Xandy.

After wrapping up a fall tour with Wednesday and countless 2025 tours with MJ, Xandy and I spoke during his time off in the mountains of Western North Carolina. We discussed pedal steel players, tour fatigue, celebrating Bleeds, and MJ’s appearance in GQ.

*this interview has been edited for length and clarity.*

Sam: For those who aren’t familiar with you, could you introduce yourself?

Xandy: I play steel with Wednesday and MJ Lenderman. I grew up in Asheville, and started playing piano when I was pretty young. Then I realized that I just really, really loved music. I started playing in small bands with my friends in high school, and then I formed a project for a few years after that, while I was in college. That’s when I met Jake (MJ) Lenderman and then Karly (Hartzman), and we started playing music together, and we have since.

How long have you been playing steel?

I started playing it for Jake when his band formed. I was mainly playing keys, and some lap steel because he had one on loan from one of his neighbors or something. And I was like, “Great, I’ll play that.”

My keyboard setup was really awful. It was like a giant, heavy, weighted MIDI keyboard that I got for free from a friend a few years back. It weighed around 100 pounds. I was running it through my laptop, Garage Band-style, to give it sound. It looked so stupid that, pretty soon after our first couple of shows, Jake said he would rather have me just play the lap steel.

I guess it ended up being for the best.

I would agree [laughs].

There’s starting to be a lot of attention around the lap steel, and for me, you kind of act as my introduction to the instrument. Who are the sort-of landmark names of lap steel?

Oh, man, I mean, that’s a really great question. Honestly, I don’t know all that much about the history of the steel. I know there are figures like Susan Alcorn, who have been around since before the ‘90s and were leaders in alternative and experimental steel playing. 

There’s some really sick Wilco songs off Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that have steel heavily featured in them. I think that’s their guitarist playing that. There’s also a Shins song that I really loved in high school that has steel in it. I don’t know who plays it, though.

Steel players sorta go under the radar.

Well, here’s one: I just met a steel player who played with Jason Molina and the Magnolia Electric Co. on those records. 

What’s his name?

Mike Brenner. They just played a show here in Asheville the other day, and I was really humbled to meet him. He’s an absolutely fantastic player, and he’s based in Philly. He’s on all the original Molina records, and he’s just this magnificent steel player who probably deserves a little more recognition.

That’s a legend for sure. You’re mentioning some of my favorite artists like Wilco and Jason Molina. What type of music did you listen to growing up?

I have semi-older parents, so in my house, it was a lot of early classic rock, like The Beatles and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and stuff like that. My dad was always into some weirder stuff, and he gave me a couple of Dr. Demento radio sets and mix tapes when I was younger that I really loved. 

I learned a lot of my music sensibilities from my mom’s taste. She showed me ‘60s and ‘70s softer rock stuff. It was very much Beatles-heavy. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I really started to get into the contemporary music that I now love the most.

What were those bands?

Ok, so when I was in high school, there were sort of like two groups; I feel like half of the kids were really loving that late aughts, butt rock, metal, Korn, and the gang. But there was another side. I was listening to the tweest of twee. I really loved The Shins, Grizzly Bear, Real Estate, Beach Fossils, and Fleet Foxes was a big one for me. I think a lot of that music has held up pretty well, and then a lot of it hasn’t, but those bands were definitely informing me pretty heavily at the time. 

The aughts era of rock is pretty divided.

Yeah, a lot of the people I play music with who are the same age were really into Linkin Park and Flyleaf and whatnot. They grew up with that, and it’s fun, because even now, over a decade later, those influences run very clearly through all of us in different ways.

Rock was somewhat all over the place, and I suppose it has converged into what indie rock looks like today, for example, MJ. He’s experienced a meteoric rise in the last year. From your perspective, what has it been like to be in his bubble while that’s happening?

Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind. It’s been really surreal. I can’t speak too much for what he’s feeling. But, I mean, I do really believe that Manning Fireworks was a master stroke, and that he’s really earned a lot of the attention, and, I guess, status that he’s enjoying. But it’s also a little crazy to see your old buddy on the f***ing GQ gentleman’s quarterly red carpet whatever.

He’s doing this stuff because you want to put yourself out there, and it’s good for business. Part of playing music, unfortunately, is business because, I mean, it’s a big goal, at least for a lot of musicians, to secure a good life for yourself and your bandmates. There are, of course, a lot of perks that come with so much notoriety. 

But I don’t think it’ll be like this forever. And I don’t think he thinks like that either. So I think we’re all just sort of enjoying it as it comes, and sort of accepting what people and businesses want to offer him and us. But it’s surreal. It’s really goofy what people want. There’s no world in which Jake is like, ‘Man, someday I’m gonna be on that GQ red carpet.’ Ultimately, it’s just f***ing hilarious. I feel like we’re mostly enjoying some good laughs over that kind of treatment.

I was definitely a bit surprised when I saw the whole GQ thing.

It’s such a corporate place, and that’s never what we’ve been about or what we’re going to be about.

What has it been like to see Wednesday’s popularity grow so much over the past few years?

It’s really, really awesome to see this growth. It’s all happened so organically, and it feels like we haven’t had to try too hard for anything, outside of just loving each other and loving the music we play, and playing it as well as we can. There’s been a lot of different folks who come across us and end up supporting us in the most incredible ways, and making sure our music gets out there. 

I’m mostly proud of our crew and Karly, because we’ve spent most of our 20s together, and that’s such a turbulent time. The fact that we’re all still friends and on the same page with everything is nothing short of a miracle. I feel like our music gets better and better and better, and our chops are constantly improving, and it’s just such a lovely ride.

Bleeds is proof of the growth. Is it a relief or a celebration that the album is finally out?

We’ve definitely been celebrating it. It’s weird because we recorded those songs in February or March of 2024. Then, it was like a solid year and a half between getting the master recordings and the album’s release. It’s a pretty weird disconnect. But when we listened to them back for the first time, I was really in awe of what we made. 

I could tell instantly that the songs were a whole new caliber, and I kind of figured that it would do well and that people would like it. But it’s still unimaginably surreal, the kind of reception it’s been getting, and how much it’s been speaking to people; you can never fully expect or count on that to be your reality. I’m celebrating it, and really enjoying it, because the imposter syndrome has kind of gone away for us, because we’re sort of like, ‘yeah, we’ve been working for this for most of the decade now.

The celebration is so deserved. The record is so killer; I saw you guys play it live in Philly, which was phenomenal.

I guess Philly was technically the first show of the tour, and it was really exciting to see how into it the crowd was. Everybody was going crazy. It immediately felt like a level up for us, just in terms of how enthusiastic our audiences were, across the board. 

How did the rest of the tour go?

The tour went really smoothly. The band was all feeling really good about that now that the tour is over. I mean, we are gearing up for a very busy 2026, but the last few weeks, I’ve been enjoying being at home. Touring is fun, and playing shows is what we’re all here to do, but I do spend more and more time out on the road these days, so being home feels like such a real treat. 

I’m curious about that because you are on the road nonstop between Wednesday and MJ gigs. What is it like to tour constantly? Do you get fatigued in any way?

Being on the road is a total dream come true, but it’s also a double-edged sword, because it’s not real life. In many ways, you’re just hopping from city to city, and you’re buying every meal, but then everybody’s really stoked that you’re there and happy to see you. And then you have downtime, walking around cities or hanging out with the crew, which is really nice. But you aren’t able to establish a lot of good habits. 

There’s so much consistency in being home. And you’re also in your community, which is really, really important for me, at least. So, eventually, after enough time on the road, it’s really disembodying, or, in a way, disconnecting. That’s where the fatigue really sets in, because we’re able to get good sleep, eat well, and take care of ourselves. However, the constant travel aspect does something to your brain. You end up really missing the comforts of home and your loved ones. 

Doing double duty with the bands is tough. Ethan (Baechtold), the bassist in Wednesday, also plays in MJ, so he’s right there with me for most of it. I took a couple of tours off earlier this year with MJ because I knew we were about to drop some fire with Wednesday, and that we would be busy. So I had to step out for several weeks and sort of reset myself to get ready for more touring with Wednesday.

What is it like to switch between the two projects because an MJ show and a Wednesday show are very different?

It’s so great. I always think I like one better, and then I play a show with the other band, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is better.’ Playing with MJ feels like a scrimmage or a conversation, or even like you’re just swimming in the ocean and letting everything wash over you. It feels kind of passive in a way, and what I’m doing is very responsive. It’s loose because we don’t practice with that band. We just sit down and play together, and it feels so freewheeling and fun and creative for that. 

With Wednesday, there’s so much structure, and there are so many dynamics within each song. It’s sort of this lovely experience of playing a structured song more and more perfectly, and hitting the dynamic shifts with better emphasis. It feels like an acrobatics routine. Each night we play, I get better at sticking the landing. 

The crowd response is one of the more gratifying parts of playing with Wednesday. The songs are really hard, and if you’re playing them really well, and if the crowd is giving us a lot, then it’s just a whirlwind of a show. They are the ideal kind of shows to be playing; it’s just such a rager, you know?

I remember in Philly when Karly said something about the crowd not being rowdy enough. And then “Bath County” started, and it was total chaos on the floor.

I love it when Karly’s egging the crowd on to get going. There’s a lot of joy in each crowd, MJ’s crowds, too.

What I find most interesting about the MJ live gig is that there’s no written set list. You guys do it on the fly. Can you talk me through that process?

Well, 99% of the time, Jake just calls the next song he wants to play. With a few songs, there’s a natural flow from one specific song into another that we really like to incorporate into a live set. For example, when we play “Rudolph,” it’s usually a guarantee that “Toontown” is right after that. However, depending on the tour, we sometimes also like to switch that up. 

We don’t like to get too comfortable. But most of the time, it’s Jake’s call, and he just signals whatever song he wants to play next with us. And then every once in a while, if there’s a song that one of us really wants to play, and I’ll just be like, ‘Yeah, let’s play “Rip Torn.”’

What songs, either with Wednesday and MJ, do you look forward to playing, or wish you played more?

That’s a great question. To me, I have one of the best jobs in both bands, because I just get to play around and do my own thing a lot of the time. As a lap steel player, I feel like I tend to play a lead part and sit on top of everything else that’s going on. I always get to shine a little bit, but there’s definitely, like, a few songs that I really love to play in MJ. “TV Dinners” is definitely one of them.

That’s one of my favorites. I’ve been waiting to hear that live.

Well, there’s a rule that we only play it if Jake’s grandma is in the crowd.

“You Are Every Girl To Me” is another one I love. It was one of the first songs I ever played pedal steel on, and for some reason, my part is very circular and repetitive. It’s really nice, because I get to shut my brain off, and I get really lost in that song in the best way.

With Wednesday, I’m not sure, but I love playing the new album. “Candy Breath,” especially, is my favorite one to play. We play that one almost every set, because we’re trying to put the new album in heavy rotation. “Candy Breath” and “Phish Pepsi” are definitely my favorites with Wednesday right now. And we play them pretty much every night, so I’m stoked every time they come around.

You’re continuing on tour in 2026, including some stadiums shows opening for Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers. How do you feel about that?

It’s crazy. Yeah, we’re really excited and surprised every time something like that happens. I think the Zach Bryan dates are either Jake solo or at a time when Wednesday’s is on tour somewhere else, so I won’t be there for those.

However, the stadium shows are such an amazing privilege because a big aspect of those is that we’re getting paid a lot, which is really good. Some members in Wednesday haven’t been touring at all for the last year and a half, basically. So, some of us are definitely strapped for cash and sick of working restaurant jobs. Also, the exposure is going to do a lot for us, and it’s really a lovely opportunity.

But aside from that, if I’m being honest, our music is meant for a 200-cap room. We started by playing venues like that, and that’s where we always envisioned ourselves playing. 100 to 1,200 size rooms are always, always, always going to be our favorite places to play. Stadiums are cool. Arenas are cool, but they’re not as intimate, and it’s not as contained. I’m stoked for the opportunity, but ultimately, it’s not what I want to be doing with the band.

I’m glad you’re on the same page as the fans because there was some worry that Wednesday and MJ were moving past the 1,000-cap venues.

As time goes on and we have more agency over what we can and can’t accomplish with a tour, I definitely think we’ll be leaning towards multiple nights at a smaller venue instead of one night at a 3,000-cap room or whatever. We just announced some tour dates, and we’re playing like two or three nights at one of our favorite venues, Cat’s Cradle. There’s an option for us to play at a venue called The Ritz. No shade towards The Ritz, but also a little bit of shade, because they’re a Live Nation venue. 

We definitely don’t support Live Nation. They’re such a major part of the landscape of music in this country that you can’t avoid them a lot of the time. But if we’re able to, we definitely will, because Live Nation venues just feel way more impersonal, and bigger rooms feel way more impersonal.

Agreed. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk. The studio and I love Wednesday and MJ’s music so much.

Thank you for saying that. I feel so lucky that we can hold that space for people; it’s really awesome.

Before you go, do you want to make a segment for my radio show?

Of course! Can I think through my picks and send them in later?

Here are Xandy’s picks:

“The Fox Chase / The Lost Gander” – Joseph Decosimo

These two songs are genius interpretations of a couple Old Time music gems from Dee & Delta Hicks, who were keepers of many rare & special songs and ballads from the Old Time tradition. Joseph Decosimo is an NC native and one of my favorite contemporary Old Time musicians.

“Hear the Children Sing” – Lungfish

This is a great & weird little song that Jake turned me onto a long time ago. I’m including it because Bonny Prince Billy covers it; his version is super bizarre/meditative/circular in such an incredible way. I saw him play last week in Asheville, and it really blew me away. Such a legend! I would put his version on this block, but it is a 20-minute song, so Lungfish will do.

“Ohm” – Yo La Tengo

What can I say, YLT are probably the best & most cosmically perfect band ever to exist. Wonderful people making perfect music. This song has been our walk-on for a LOT of shows recently, and it will never not make me a little emotional, nor will I ever tire of it. It’s a song with a message that everyone could stand to internalize & carry with them. Almost like a mantra

Xandy Chelmis is a member of Wednesday and MJ Lenderman & The Wind. Find more information on Wednesday, here, and MJ, here.