Wilco’s 12th Studio Album News & The Return Of Golden Smog

A few crucial happenings for Wilco fans to gnaw on these days involve the current recording of the Chicago-based band’s 12th studio album, and the reunion of the alternative country-rock supergroup (that’s how they’re most often described by rock scribes online I’ve found), Golden Smog.

We’ll begin with the yet-to-be-titled album, which Wilco front man, Jeff Tweedy, has shared some session snippets of on his paid newsletter, Starship Casual, published on Substack. The material, which comes from two weeks of sessions in the middle of March, “might not make it on the next record,” as Tweedy wrote of one sketch of a song. “But I love the way it sounds and wanted to share. OxO”

The photo at the top of this post (taken by Chicago freelance photographer Jamie Davis) from the March sessions at the Wilco loft shows Tweedy, John Stirratt, and Pan Sansone working on some tunage. It’s one of a number of other fine pics capturing Wilco’s work-in-progress by Davis (Instagram: jaymiey) featured in Tweedy’s prolific newsletter, as well as other exclusive content, all of which makes Starship Casual well worth the subscription price. Subscribe here.

This weekend, April 2 and 3, Golden Smog, will reunite for two shows at First Avenue in Minneapolis. This will be the first public show by the band in 11 years, and the first with Tweedy since 2008. The great return of Golden Smog was originally set for 2020, for First Avenue’s 50th Anniversary celebration, but the pandemic caused the event to be postponed.

For those not in the know, the side-project galore of Golden Smog is made up of Tweedy, Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy, former Big Star member Jody Stephens, who like Tweedy, was absent from the last few reunions; and the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, Marc Perlman, and Kraig Johnson (also of Run Westy Run).

Golden Smog, who date back to the late ‘80s, and have a self-titled debut covers EP, and four fine albums in their discography - On Golden Smog (1992), Down by the Old Mainstream (1995), Weird Tales (1998), Another Fine Day (2006), and Blood on the Slacks (2007) - will have their Sunday night performance broadcast on Nugs.net (9:45 PM ET | LIVE HD VIDEO).

Whether you’re going in person to see them at First Avenue one or both nights, or watching, and listening to them live on Nugs on Sunday, I hope you enjoy the mighty return of Golden Smog. I have a pretty certain feeling that I, listening from my home base, will – a lot.

More later…