Wilco

The band Wilco rose out of the ashes of the rock formation Uncle Tupelo that was dissolved in 1994. The new group united Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Ken Coomer and part-time musicians Jay John Stirrat and Max Jonston. After they were joined by guitarist Jay Bennett, the group started working on the debut long player. It was delivered in 1995 under the title A.M. as a collection of country songs penned mostly by Tweedy. Wilco were quick enough to release in a year another studio album, Being There, as a double-CD. The music featured there was completely different from what one could hear on the first record. Tweedy went into experimenting with psychedelic sound and soul and added some traces of R&B. Soon after the release of this album, Johnston parted ways with the group preferring to perform further with his sister. He was replaced by Bob Egan.

In the meantime, the other constant members of Wilco, Bennett, Stirrat and Coomer, launched a side-project, Courtesy Move, that was oriented at the pop-loving audience. In 1999, the band issued their third long player, Summerteeth. Although it was critically acclaimed from the musical point of view, the record’s sales were far from good, which planted the seeds of feud between the musicians and their label, Warner Bros. In 2000, Wilco said good bye to their drummer Ken Coomer who was replaced by Glenn Kotche. In the course of making the fourth full-length record, Jay Bennett left the band, too, as the conflict between Wilco and the label aggravated. The company urged the musicians to record as commercial tape as possible, which was refused point blank. Having bought out the records of the ready songs, Wilco placed some of them on-line and soon found another label, Nonesuch Records. In the long run, the album was released in 2002 titled as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It appeared the highest selling release in the band’s entire history.

Wilco spent the rest of 2002 in constant touring and met the new year locked up in the studio ready to work on their subsequent album, A Ghost Is Born. The making of this record was passing in a less stressful atmosphere than a year ago. Nevertheless, the lineup once again went thorough changes. The band recruited Mikael Jorgensen, Pat Sansone and Neils Clein. Shortly before the release of the new record, Tweedy admitted to attending rehab courses for those dependent on medical substances. The explanation was that the musician had been long taking in painkillers to fight severe migraine caused by regular panic disorders. He described this in many details as well as many secrets from the histories of both Wilco, and Uncle Tupelo, to journalist Greg Kot who compiled the biographical book under the head Wilco: Learning How to Die. The release of the book coincided with that of A Ghost Is Born in 2004. The following year, the group recorded a concert album called Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, consisting of 23 tracks. 2007 saw Wilco extend their discography with the fresh studio effort, Sky Blue Sky. By the moment it hit the stores, there only two members from the original lineup, Tweedy and Stirrat. On the background of the previous works, this one was softer and lighter. However, it still was a hundred per cent rock record to please both new and old fans of the American ensemble. Two years later, Wilco released one more studio album, Wilco (The Album).