Artist Wilco

Chris Strong
Mary Ellen Matthews

Website
Wilco

When it comes to critical adulation and eager anticipation of its every move, Wilco stands alone in the current generation of American rock bands. Few would have guessed such accolades would follow upon the release of the band’s ho-hum 1995 debut, A.M., but Wilco earned its reputation thanks to an unbroken string of albums that, even if they weren’t great (like 2007’s snoozy Sky Blue Sky) were always intriguing. The new Wilco (The Album)—featuring “Wilco (The Song)”—shows a refreshing levity its immediate predecessors lacked, a welcome development after the increasingly serious records that followed 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Updated 07/02/2009