PORTLAND – In its 10-year career, Wilco has persevered through multiple lineup changes, a dispute with its record label and a pain-killer addition. Yet through all the turmoil, Jeff Tweedy and his boys kept producing quality albums. Wilco will reward its fans for a decade of dedication with a tour, making the long trek up to Maine for a one-night show Wednesday, April 19, at Merrill Auditorium.
The blend of folk and roots music that defines Wilco’s sound began developing in 1994, after the breakup of influential roots group Uncle Tupelo. Tweedy, one of Tupelo’s two singer-songwriters (Jay Farrar was the other), joined fellow Tupelo musicians Ken Coomer, on drums; John Stirratt, bass, and Max Johnston, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and lap steel. Together, they formed Wilco. Later that year, guitarist Jay Bennett completed the quintet.
Wilco began recording almost immediately, releasing its debut album, “A.M.,” in 1995. The collection of country-rock songs mirrored the work of Uncle Tupelo but received little attention.
In stark contrast to “A.M.,” “Being There,” the group’s 1996 double-disc offering, garnered critical praise and found a place on the majority of the year’s top album lists. Soon after its recording, however, changes rocked the group as Johnston left to perform with his sister. Bob Egan replaced him.
After taking a three-year hiatus from recording to pursue other ventures such as a collaboration with Billy Bragg, the band released “Summerteeth” in 1999. While heralded as a critical success, lackluster album sales concerned Wilco’s record label Warner Bros. Adding to the turmoil was the fact that Coomer quit shortly after the album’s release, although he remained on good terms with the band’s remaining members. Glenn Kotche filled the longtime drummer’s place.
Tensions with Warner Brothers reached a peak in 2001. The label refused to release Wilco’s forthcoming “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel” until the band altered its sound in hopes that the album would succeed commercially. Tweedy and company declined, eventually buying the master recordings from Warner Brothers for $50,000. The departure of Bennett, replaced by Leroy Bach, was another casualty of the dispute. Eventually, Nonesuch Records put out “Yankee,” which again garnered critical praise but moved few units.
The year 2003 was another eventful year for Wilco as it recorded and released “A Ghost Is Born,” and continued through Bach’s departure. Two musicians, guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, replaced the skilled bassist on Wilco’s tour.
That same year, Tweedy, the band’s longtime driving force, shocked fans by entering a drug rehab program for an addiction to painkillers. He began using the pills to combat migraine headaches brought on in part by a panic disorder. The leader successfully completed the program and recovered, helping Greg Kot write a biography of “Wilco Learning How To Die,” in 2004.
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