As promised, Jeff Tweedy has penned a whopping 21 tracks for a new Wilco double album called Cruel Country, due May 27 through dBpm Records.
Comprising almost entirely live takes off the floor of the Loft in Chicago, and using minimal overdubs, the recording process was one that "Wilco hasn't used in years — maybe not since Sky Blue Sky." Likewise, Cruel Country finds the band returning to alt-country palettes, giving Tweedy an "ideal place to comment on what most troubles my mind — which for more than a little while now has been the country where I was born, these United States."
Tweedy said in a statement:
Because it is the country I love, and because it's country music that I love, I feel a responsibility to investigate their mirrored problematic natures. I believe it's important to challenge our affections for things that are flawed.
Country music is simply designed to aim squarely at the low-hanging fruit of the truth. If someone can sing it, and it's given a voice… well, then it becomes very hard not to see. We're looking at it. It's a cruel country, and it's also beautiful. Love it or leave it. Or if you can't love it, maybe you've already left.
The album drops just in time for the group's Solid Sound festival, which runs May 27 to 29. Additionally, they've lined up several performances through the better part of the summer, including a lone Canadian stop at Toronto's Budweiser Stage on August 18. They'll be joined by local heroes Bahamas and Kathleen Edwards. More details on that here.
For now, the band are offering up the first taste of the forthcoming record with new single "Falling Apart (Right Now)," which arrives with its own Loft-shot video courtesy of Jamie Fleischel and Zoran Orlic.
Watch that below, where you can also find the album's tracklisting.
Cruel Country:
1. I Am My Mother
2. Cruel Country
3. Hints
4. Ambulance
5. The Empty Condor
6. Tonight's the Day
7. All Across the World
8. Darkness Is Cheap
9. Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull
10. Tired of Taking It Out on You
11. The Universe
12. Many Worlds
13. Hearts Hard to Find
14. Falling Apart (Right Now)
15. Please Be Wrong
16. Story to Tell
17. A Lifetime to Find
18. Country Song Upside-down
19. Mystery Binds
20. Sad Kind of Way
21. The Plains
Pre-order Cruel Country.
Comprising almost entirely live takes off the floor of the Loft in Chicago, and using minimal overdubs, the recording process was one that "Wilco hasn't used in years — maybe not since Sky Blue Sky." Likewise, Cruel Country finds the band returning to alt-country palettes, giving Tweedy an "ideal place to comment on what most troubles my mind — which for more than a little while now has been the country where I was born, these United States."
Tweedy said in a statement:
Because it is the country I love, and because it's country music that I love, I feel a responsibility to investigate their mirrored problematic natures. I believe it's important to challenge our affections for things that are flawed.
Country music is simply designed to aim squarely at the low-hanging fruit of the truth. If someone can sing it, and it's given a voice… well, then it becomes very hard not to see. We're looking at it. It's a cruel country, and it's also beautiful. Love it or leave it. Or if you can't love it, maybe you've already left.
The album drops just in time for the group's Solid Sound festival, which runs May 27 to 29. Additionally, they've lined up several performances through the better part of the summer, including a lone Canadian stop at Toronto's Budweiser Stage on August 18. They'll be joined by local heroes Bahamas and Kathleen Edwards. More details on that here.
For now, the band are offering up the first taste of the forthcoming record with new single "Falling Apart (Right Now)," which arrives with its own Loft-shot video courtesy of Jamie Fleischel and Zoran Orlic.
Watch that below, where you can also find the album's tracklisting.
Cruel Country:
1. I Am My Mother
2. Cruel Country
3. Hints
4. Ambulance
5. The Empty Condor
6. Tonight's the Day
7. All Across the World
8. Darkness Is Cheap
9. Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull
10. Tired of Taking It Out on You
11. The Universe
12. Many Worlds
13. Hearts Hard to Find
14. Falling Apart (Right Now)
15. Please Be Wrong
16. Story to Tell
17. A Lifetime to Find
18. Country Song Upside-down
19. Mystery Binds
20. Sad Kind of Way
21. The Plains
Pre-order Cruel Country.