2022 was a very busy year for everybody’s, at least mine, favorite band from Chicago. Over the last trip around the sun, Wilco played 59 shows, released their 12th studio album, Cruel Country (a double record with 21 tracks); released a 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (featuring 84 previously unreleased tracks), and, maybe most importantly, appeared with comedian Nikki Glaser on Carpool Karaoke.
We’ll start with that as it’s the most recent Wilco activity having dropped in early December via Apple TV. The 19-minute segment, which was Episode 9, Season 5, from the spin-off of the popular Carpool Karaoke series hosted by James Corden on The Late Late Show featured super Wilco fan Glasser meeting her musical heroes – that is the three members who took part: Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, and Glenn Kotche - and driving around the windy city singing along to their songs “Casino Queen,” “Random Name Generator,” and “Heavy Metal Drummer.”
The gushing Glasser got Tweedy to relay his off-told Springsteen story – i.e. how as a kid he told his third grade classmates that “Born to Run” was his creation – which led to a sing-a-long to that classic Boss song, then we got a Mavis Staples cameo with a bit of her Staples Singers hit, “I’ll Take You There,” and they concluded with a visit to the float used in the parade scene in the 1986 Chicago-shot FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF for a “Twist and Shout” performance complete with Glasser wearing Ferris’s pink vest, and dancers re-creating the steps moves in the background. Que it up on Apple TV+.
Tweedy and company both celebrated their past, and gave us new music in 2022. With their round of shows in April performing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in full (with a smattering of encore songs), and releasing unearthed material from the album’s early aughts sessions in various Deluxe Editions in September, alongside putting out the double LP, Cruel Country, on May 27, on which they performed it in full at their Solid Sound at MASS Moca (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, Massachusetts.
I must also plug the upcoming vinyl release of Cruel Country on January 20, 2023. Like many fans, I've been looking forward to this physical release since last summer so click here to pre-order in various bundles 'n whatnot:
We also celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Sam Jones’ 2002 documentary, I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART, which captured some insightful moments during the YHF sessions to say the least.
Wilco's next scheduled live events are a three night residency at Eldborg Hall located at the Harpa Center in Reykjavik, Iceland (April 6-8, 2023), and then at the High Water Festival in North Charleston, South Carolina on April 16, 2023 (I hope to be there).
I didn’t attend any of the nearly 60 shows that Wilco played in 2022, but I did see Tweedy perform a wonderful solo show in Lexington, Kentucky on October 19.
Tweedy appeared as part the Kentucky Theater’s 100th Anniversary Celebration, and played a sweet set which featured, fittingly, nice helpings of Cruel Country, and YHF (five songs each), plus choice cuts like the solo song “Gwendolyn” from Love is the King (2020), and the long-time crowd favorites like Uncle Tupelo’s “New Madrid,” and “California Stars” from the Mermaid Avenue project with Billy Bragg.
I shot one video at the show: “Hummingbird” from A Ghost is Born, a song I’ve seen Tweedy perform a lot, but it’s a good one:
Lastly, The Tweedy Show just ran its 217th episode on Monday, December 26 and it was a doozy! Here’s Jeff covering Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies” in tribute to the recently departed Christie Mcvie, who wrote the song with Richard Dashut:
As this is Wilcopedia (The Blog)’s last entry of 2022, thanks to everybody for their support! I’m working on the second edition of Wilcopedia (go to Amazon to rate and review the book too!), with hope due for Wilco’s 30th Anniversary in 2024 so sales of the first edition have helped to that goal.
More later…
