Wilco have announced Cruel Country, their 12th album, that is due May 27 via dBpm Records. It's a double and was recorded almost entirely live. “It’s a style of recording that forces a band to surrender control and learn to trust each other, along with each others’ imperfections, musical and otherwise.” says Jeff Tweedy. “But when it’s working the way it’s supposed to, it feels like gathering around some wild collective instrument, one that requires six sets of hands to play.”
The album also finds Wildo explicitly returning to their country roots. “There have been elements of Country music in everything we’ve ever done. We’ve never been particularly comfortable with accepting that definition, the idea that I was making country music," says Jeff Tweedy. "But now, having been around the block a few times, we’re finding it exhilarating to free ourselves within the form, and embrace the simple limitation of calling the music we’re making Country.”
Tweedy also says the album follows a loose conceptual narrative about the history of the United States. "It isn’t always direct and easy to spot, but there are flashes of clarity,” he says. “It’s all mixed up and mixed in, the way my personal feelings about America are often woven with all of our deep collective myths. Simply put, people come and problems emerge. Worlds collide. It’s beautiful. And cruel. The specifics of an American identity begin to blur for me as the record moves toward the light and opens itself up to more cosmic solutions—coping with fear, without belonging to any nation or group other than humanity itself.”
The first single from the album is "Falling Apart (Right Now)," that's definitely twangier than we're heard Wilco do in while. You can watch the video for the song below.
Wilco will perform Cruel Country in full at their Solid Sound Festival in May, and they have European dates this summer and Beach Road Weekend in Martha's Vineyard in August.
The just wrapped up a string of concerts in NYC and Chicago celebrating the 20th anniversary of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
You can preorder the new 20th anniversary editions of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and grab other Wilco vinyl in the BV shop.
attachment-wilco Cruel Country Album Artwork
Cruel Country: 1. I Am My Mother 2. Cruel Country 3. Hints 4. Ambulance 5. The Empty Condor 6. Tonight’s The Day 7. All Across The World 8. Darkness Is Cheap 9. Bird Without A Tail / Base Of My Skull 10. Tired Of Taking It Out On You 11. The Universe 12. Many Worlds 13. Hearts Hard To Find 14. Falling Apart (Right Now) 15. Please Be Wrong 16. Story To Tell 17. A Lifetime To Find 18. Country Song Upside-down 19. Mystery Binds 20. Sad Kind Of Way 21. The Plains
2022 Wilco Tour Dates: Fri. May 27 - Sun. May 29 - North Adams, MA @ Solid Sound Festival Sat. Jun. 11 - Oslo, NE @ Loaded Festival Mon. Jun. 13 - Copenhagen, DK @ Amager Bio Fri. Jun. 17 - Zeebrugge, BE @ Zeebrugge Beach Festival Sat. Jun. 18 - Kent, UK @ Black Deer Festival Wed. Jun. 22 - Barcelona, ES @ Poble Espanyol Sat. Jun. 25 - Murcia, ES @ Plaza De Toros Murcia Mon. Jun. 27 - Madrid, ES @ Noches Del Botanico Mon. Aug. 28 - Martha’s Vineyard, MA @ Beach Road Weekend
