Wilco Gives The Grateful Dead’s “U.S. Blues” The Cruel Country Treatment

This week’s Wednesday Wilco Song Spotlight shines on a cover that has been currently cropping up in the band’s encores:

“U.S. Blues” (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)

The Grateful Dead’s “U.S. Blues,” which opens their 1974 studio album, From the Mars Hotel, isn’t really a blues tune. It’s more of a rollicking anthem with its punchy verses and sing-a-long chorus, as can be witnessed in the blazing rendition from the Winterland Ballroom in Oct. ’74 that opens THE GRATEFUL DEAD MOVIE (1977):

The Grateful Dead performed the crowd-pleaser, “U.S. Blues,” well over 300 times in their touring career up until the death of founder/front man Jerry Garcia in 1994, and then has been continued life through performances with such Dead off-shoots as Dead & Company, Furthur, the Phil Lesh and Friends, etc.

Last August, Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy, and his band’s lead guitarist, Nels Cline, performed with Phil Lesh & Friends at the inaugural Sacred Rose Festival at the SeatGeek Stadium outside Chicago under the banner of Philco. The one-off (for now) supergroup performed a 14-song set of mostly Dead classics, with guest appearances by Wilco’s “Via Chicago,” and “Airline to Heaven” from Tweedy and company’s Woody Guthrie/Mermaid Avenue collaboration with Billy Bragg.

The event featured Tweedy’s debuts on the Dead classics, “Dire Wolf,” “Franklin’s Tower,” and his lead on the show closer “Ripple,” a song which he’s performed multiple times since the ‘90s. But “U.S. Blues,” also a first for the Wilco front man, was an early stand-out in the set as can be seen in this cool clip:

When Wilco’s Cruel Country tour resumed after Sacred Rose, “U.S. Blues” made the transition from Philco to a prominent spot in their show’s encores for almost every show they’ve played since. As Tweedy expresses such sentiments as “I love my country, stupid and cruel,” on Wilco’s latest studio offering, Garcia/Hunter’s cynical digs at nationalism in the mid ‘70s rocker thematically fit like a glove in the band’s present-day repertoire.

When “U.S. Blues,” which is populated by the likes of Uncle Sam, Charlie Chan, and P.T. Barnum, comes off as a sarcastic call to “Wave the flag, wave it wide and high,” it could easily be coupled with Tweedy’s “Adjust your eyes to the light/Let them roll with pride,” from Cruel Country’s “Hints.”

Tweedy and Cline’s premiere performance with Philco of “U.S. Blues,” and its following nine encore appearances by Wilco have cemented the song as a crucial cover in the band’s catalog. An entry based on this post will be added to the Wilco: The Covers section in future editions of Wilcopedia.

I’ll conclude with the most recent performance by Wilco of “U.S. Blues” at the Fargo Brewery in Fargo, North Dakota on September 11, 2022:

 

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Wilco’s Cruel Country Tour Continues In The Midwest & We've Got Set-lists & Posters To Prove It!

Official poster by Matt Pfahlert/TheSilentP.com.

After a brief break, Wilco’s Cruel Country summer tour continues with stops in Madison, Wisconsin; Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, so let’s catch up with what they played and some of the fine art that accompanied the shows. Yeah, there’s a lot of same-ness here, but some cool tunes revolve in and out, and there’s the highlight of the cover of the Grateful Dead’s “U.S. Blues.” 

Wilco founder/front man Jeff Tweedy first performed the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter-written song when he and his band’s lead guitarist, Nels Cline, performed with Phil Lesh & Friends at the inaugural Sacred Rose Festival at the SeatGeek Stadium outside Chicago on August 26th. There’s a video of the performance by the band dubbed Philco of the song, which theme and vibe-wise fits well with the Cruel Country material, included below in the setlist entries.

So have at ‘em:

The Sylvee, Madison, WI 9/9/22

“Handshake Drugs” / “I Am My Mother” / “Cruel Country” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “Hints” / “War on War” / “ If I Ever Was a Child” / “Via Chicago” (w/ “Many Worlds” outro) / “At Least That's What You Said” / “Story to Tell” / “Hummingbird” / “Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull” / “Hearts Hard to Find” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Impossible Germany” / “Love is Everywhere” (Beware)” / “California Stars” / “A Lifetime to Find” / “I’m Always in Love” / “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”

Encore: “Falling Apart (Right Now)” / “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” / “Kicking Television”

Grand Rapids Area Library, Grand Rapids, MN 9/10/22

“Handshake Drugs” / “I Am My Mother” / “Cruel Country” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “Hints” / “War on War” / “ If I Ever Was a Child” / “Via Chicago” (with “Many Worlds” coda) / “At Least That's What You Said” / “Story to Tell” / “Hummingbird” / “All Across the World” / “Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Impossible Germany” / “Love is Everywhere” (Beware) / “California Stars” / “A Lifetime to Find” / “I’m Always in Love” / “Heavy Metal Drummer” / “I’m the Man Who Loves You”

Encore: “Falling Apart (Right Now)” / “U.S. Blues” / “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” / “Outta Mind (Outta Sight)”

Fargo Brewing Company, Fargo, ND 9/11/22

Official show poster by Zach Pape.

“The Plains” / “Handshake Drugs” / “I Am My Mother” / “Cruel Country” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “Hints” / “War on War” / “If I Ever Was a Child” / “Via Chicago” (with “Many Worlds” coda) / “Shouldn’t Be Ashamed” / “Story to Tell” / “Hummingbird” / “All Across the World” / “Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Impossible Germany” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “California Stars” / “A Lifetime to Find” / “I’m Always in Love” / “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”

Encore: “Falling Apart (Right Now)” / “U.S. Blues” / “I Got You (At the End of the Century)”

Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, SD 9/12/22

Official show poster by A. Micah Smith.

“Handshake Drugs” / “I Am My Mother” / “Cruel Country” / “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” / “Hints” / “War on War” / “How to Fight Loneliness” / “ Via Chicago” (with “Many Worlds” coda) / “At Least That’s What You Said” / “Story to Tell” / “Hummingbird” / “Tired of Taking It Out on You” / “Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull” / “Jesus, Etc.” / “Impossible Germany” / “Love is Everywhere (Beware)” / “California Stars” / “A Lifetime to Find” / “Box Full of Letters” / “Heavy Metal Drummer” / “I’m the Man Who Loves You”

Encore: “Falling Apart (Right Now)” / “Monday” / “Outtasite (Outta Mind)”

Next up, Wilco brings Cruel Country to Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colarado. I believe it'll be their 10th time performing at the historic venue so it ought to be a blast.

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