It’s not likely that Jeff Tweedy’s consciously stated goal after the implosion of Uncle Tupelo was to cobble together one of the most influential and experimental bands in the history of rock and roll. Tweedy had already been down the dusty road of influence-without-reward; UT had been heralded as the architect of alternative country (a mantle they refused to accept) but were commercially ignored until their catalog was reissued after the subsequent successes of Tweedy, Jay Farrar and Mike Heidorn.
It is clearly Tweedy’s triumph with Wilco that has resonated the loudest. While Wilco’s first three albums – 1995’s A.M., 1996’s Being There and 1999’s summerteeth – reflected at least some of their personal and professional strife and achieved modest critical and commercial success, they still moved the needle on what constitutes Americana and rootsy rock. Then came the fourth Wilco album, the contentious and noisy Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the release that got the band bounced from their label, inspired a film documentary about its creation and went on to become their best selling album to date.
The quality that remains consistent through Wilco’s catalog, including this year’s Cruel Country – their 12th studio album – is an unshakable and fearless sense of sonic adventure. Their Grammy-winning 2004 album, A Ghost is Born, featured “Less Than You Think,” a three-minute ballad followed by a 12-minute electronic shitstorm intended to represent the migraines that Tweedy was suffering during the sessions. Since that album, Wilco’s lineup has been stable, which has strengthened and intensified the chemistry between the players (guitarist/vocalist Tweedy, bassist/vocalist John Stirratt, guitarist Nels Cline, keyboardists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen, drummer Glenn Kotche), giving them the confidence to expand their creative parameters.
At Wilco’s core is Tweedy’s artistic restlessness, a constant need to evolve and move beyond what has been done to explore what has yet to be accomplished. Through his diverse collaborations and newly minted solo work, Tweedy has pointed his songwriting telescope at new musical galaxies, but the observatory where the bulk of his discoveries have been made and understood is Wilco, his longest standing and most creatively malleable entity.
Wilco plays PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 16. There are no COVID-19 protocols in place for the event. Info: promowestlive.com.
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This article appears in Jul 13-26, 2022.
