With it’s first-ever stable line-up, Wilco aren’t likely to lose their status as alt-country’s most consistently interesting act

When it comes to music, restlessness is very rarely a bad thing. While many bands admirably demonstrate the rewards of spending a career trying to perfect one sound, it’s often the restless that truly strike gold as their sound evolves from one release to the next. Since their inception after the breakup of legendary alt-country act Uncle Tupelo, Wilco have cast themselves as rock chameleons. From one release to the next, the band has altered their sound from straight-ahead country to earnest folk-rock, to blissful ’60s pop and postmodern deconstructionism, and have garnered considerable acclaim in the process.
    “It is sort of a goal that we have from record to record not to make the same record concurrently,” explains bassist and founding member John Stirratt. “I think that’s reflected by the lineup as well as whatever batch of songs there are and what the musical framework around the lyrics needs to be. We haven’t had to really think about it from record to record, it’s just kind of happened that way.”
    Wilco unveiled their latest musical shift earlier this year with their sixth album, Sky Blue Sky. Coming on the heels of the band’s two most experimental releases, 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and 2004’s A Ghost is Born, the album’s smooth, classic rock sound caught some listeners off guard. Instead of the usual glowing reviews the band had become accustomed to, Sky Blue Sky saw a polarized reaction from critics. While some applauded the band’s return to simpler compositions and direct lyrics, others missed the more forward-thinking elements of Wilco’s music and threw around such damning terms as “jam band” and “dad rock.” Though aware of this reaction, Stirratt defends the scaling back of Wilco’s sound on Sky Blue Sky.
    “It’s something that we respond to, wondering how people react to something we’ve done,” he says. “Just wondering why some people like it and why some people don’t. Ironically, some of (our) more challenging records have been the bigger selling records. When we had gotten the songs into shape, we all felt that there didn’t need to be any Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-style post-production — we were just happy to have the songs the way they were. It sounded like a cool record when we put it all together. As big as the response has gotten, it’s made it easier to not put too much thought into it.”
    In addition to having some nasty things said about their latest album, Wilco has also recently drawn the ire of some of their fans thanks to a licensing deal they made with Volkswagon. As part of the deal, Volkswagon has access to half of the songs on Sky Blue Sky for advertising purposes. While the band explains the deal as another way to get their music heard, some fans are crying foul, referencing Wilco’s well-publicized dispute with Reprise records over the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot — which forced the band to leave the label and to allow fans to hear the album for free on their website — as evidence that the band should be above such commercial concerns. The negative reaction perplexes Stirratt, who points out that Wilco has been involved in commercials before. Frontman Jeff Tweedy even appeared in an ad for Apple.
    “Because of the visibility of it, and also the fact that we were this sort of cause celebre with the downloading thing and the Reprise situation — being dropped and everything — we were heralded as the band with integrity, or something,” Stirratt tries to explain. “That was after the Mac thing that Jeff did.”
    Despite the mixed reaction to the new album and the ongoing debate regarding licensing deals, one thing most Wilco fans can agree on is that with its big riffs, loose song structures and abundant guitar solos, Sky Blue Sky should sound incredible in a live setting. This assessment isn’t surprising; Wilco’s live reputation has been given a boost in recent years, as displayed on 2005’s Kicking Television: Live in Chicago. Stirratt, however, is somewhat apprehensive of Wilco’s newfound live prowess. While certainly not deriding the success of Kicking Television and the improvement of the live show, he doesn’t want to see the importance of Wilco’s shows eclipse that of their albums.
    “When you get away from being an album-based band, it’s kind of dangerous footing at that point,” he notes. “I think we have many better records in us than the last one, to be honest. I think we’re at the age now and we’re confident enough with the band’s lineup that it’s just reflected in the live sound being a little more confident and letting it go a bit.”
    While Sky Blue Sky might not be to everyone’s taste, Stirratt’s admission that better material is to come and Wilco’s restlessness should be comforting for even the album’s most ardent detractors. After all, chances are Wilco’s next album will be yet another departure.