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Time for Wilco to put out a country album


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Isn't FM radio obsolete anyway?

Actually, in the case of country music, no!! One thing I learned from the CMA awards was that they give awards to stations in four types of markets and to radio personalities in different types of markets. More than one performer thanked "country radio" (maybe more than god actually...which rap artists seem to do on awards shows at an alarming rate...) which also meant something. Country radio is out there flogging mainstream product like crazy.

 

As for Wilco getting on country radio; how the fuck did Hootie or Kid Rock or any of these other guys get on? Promotion and maybe some payola? How does a Taylor Swift get on or how do those hippies that played the old Charlie Daniels tune get on. People do break into these circles all the time. There is no reason anyone has to listen to Darius Rucker if they don't want to, but country radio needed him just now. No one ever needs Kid Rock, but that's just me.

 

As for Johnny Cash not getting played, well...okay. That was half a travesty, with one set of fans, but it gained Cash an entirely new set of fans that were worth their weight in gold...us...hipsters and hippies and yuppies and all those folks who didn't listen to Johnny before. By going with Rick Rubin he bought himself lifetimes of dough by making himself cool with a whole new group of people who bought not only the American Recordings, but also the old Sun and Columbia material. As a result Johnny's family never has to work again.

 

Actually if you want to hear old style country music, set your AM dial for 650 some night (you can't get it during the day) and listen to WSM. They play plenty of old and old style music late at night. Maybe FM is obsolete, but AM certainly is still around and kicking. (Believe it or not I listen to far more AM these days than FM...which says less about the quality of what is on, as opposed to the fact that I am sick of NPR, WXRT, and the rest of the rock stations.)

 

I guess this didn't turn out to be such a stupid topic after all.

 

LouieB

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I'd love to see the band do an album of old time country covers. Stuff from the Carter Family, the Louvins, Ralph Stanley...something like that. Even just a download sort of practise thing.

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WILCO is a great band that is at their best when they are moving forward and breaking conventions. This is why WTA is their least inspiring to date. It is a rehash of WILCO from the past 15 years. A "country album" would be a move back to Anodyne, A.M., and Being There. All GREAT albums and some of my favorite recorded work, but I would suspect that the band would prefer to move forward and not backward. What about that "Dirty Soul Record" Jeff was talking about in interviews prior to SBS? That is a record I would love to hear....something in the vain of The Thanks I Get...but funkier and with horns. :rock

-Spongebob

 

 

p.s.-I know that Anodyne is a U.T. record. Edited to keep away super fans.

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WILCO is a great band that is at their best when they are moving forward and breaking conventions. This is why WTA is their least inspiring to date. It is a rehash of WILCO from the past 15 years. A "country album" would be a move back to Anodyne, A.M., and Being There. All GREAT albums and some of my favorite recorded work, but I would suspect that the band would prefer to move forward and not backward. What about that "Dirty Soul Record" Jeff was talking about in interviews prior to SBS? That is a record I would love to hear....something in the vain of The Thanks I Get...but funkier and with horns. :rock

-Spongebob

 

 

p.s.-I know that Anodyne is a U.T. record. Edited to keep away super fans.

 

This really should spawn a thread about Wilco VS. WILCO

:pirate

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By the way...what a little tart Taylor Swift is..

LouieB

 

It's odd but I'll tell this story anyways. A real good friend of mine (into death metal & Tool/NIN) took his niece to see Taylor in Boston in July. I guess she opened up for one of those dime-a-dozen country guys. Not sure who. But he said one thing that stuck with me that almost frightened him to make this statement: "Taylor Swift is going to be huge. Huge. The next big act." I asked him why he would think that. You know what evidence did he gather from that show to make him make such a statement. He told me "She sold every single piece of merchandise before (....) came out. I tried to buy my niece a shirt or something. Nothing. People were going more crazy for her than (....)." :blink Of course, it's entirely possible that the supply that they had was minimal.

 

Anyways, I would like for Wilco to put out a country album. Solely for the purpose of coming here to see people's opinions. ;)

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you know what i'd like to see wilco do? (and i hope jeff reads this, cos he read me having a go at the production of the last album); i'd like to see them making an album which puts some effort into vocal harmonies. i've said this for ages. how in the hell can you make good pop songs without having good vocal harmonies?! nearly everyone in the band can sing - use them! it can be country, folk, rock, whatever style - just get some interest going on the vocal side - the lyrics are always good, but if you're going to do straight forward songs (like the last 2 albums) it would help if they put some more time into exploring what they can do vocally. they also need to get someone in who can arrange a peice of music - cos at the moment, they've got nobody!

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WILCO is a great band that is at their best when they are moving forward and breaking conventions. This is why WTA is their least inspiring to date. It is a rehash of WILCO from the past 15 years. A "country album" would be a move back to Anodyne, A.M., and Being There. All GREAT albums and some of my favorite recorded work, but I would suspect that the band would prefer to move forward and not backward. What about that "Dirty Soul Record" Jeff was talking about in interviews prior to SBS? That is a record I would love to hear....something in the vain of The Thanks I Get...but funkier and with horns. :rock

-Spongebob

 

 

p.s.-I know that Anodyne is a U.T. record. Edited to keep away super fans.

 

I agree with the sentiment about the 'dirty soul' record. Songs along the lines of Side With Seeds (really soulful in my mind) and The Thanks I get. (I would bet that those two songs spawned Jeff's comments about a "Dirty Soul Record". Searching for a description that everybody has a connection to in order to describe the indescrible).

 

p.s.---There are no 'super fans'...or so I've been told :lol

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I don't know about a country album, but I would like to hear some songs with something close to traditional bluegrass instrumentation. I've been listening to Elvis Costello's latest a lot and I really like that sound.

 

Nels on Dobro, Pat on mandolin, John on upright bass, Jeff on acoustic guitar, Mike on acoustic piano, Glenn on a simple set up of bass/snare/hi-hat, Andrew Bird on fiddle.

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Recent discussion at the Tweedy dinner table....

 

 

Jeff: So, I've been thinking about doing a full blown country record next time.

 

Sue: That's nice dear.

 

Jeff: You know, maybe I could buy a pickup truck, get a new hat.

 

Sue: Whatever you want to do, dear.

 

Jeff: I think the guys would go for it.

 

Sue: OK, dear.

 

Jeff: We already have the right suits.

 

Sue: Yes, you do, dear.

 

Jeff: I'd have to start chewing tobacco or dippin' snuff, you know.

 

Sue: (pause) Well, at least you wouldn't be lying about learning how to use the washing machine from now on.

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i'd like to see them making an album which puts some effort into vocal harmonies.

 

maybe you're one of those people who doesn't like "country disappeared." maybe you were so turned opff by the first minute or so that you couldn't bear listening to it all the way to the end. or maybe you just forgot about the great harmonies at the end of that one.

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I don't know about a country album, but I would like to hear some songs with something close to traditional bluegrass instrumentation. I've been listening to Elvis Costello's latest a lot and I really like that sound.

 

Nels on Dobro, Pat on mandolin, John on upright bass, Jeff on acoustic guitar, Mike on acoustic piano, Glenn on a simple set up of bass/snare/hi-hat, Andrew Bird on fiddle.

How would that NOT be country? Dobro, mandolin, bsss, accoustice guitar and piano, with simple drums IS country music(unless country is that crap on country radio right now!!). (Whatever traditional bluegrass music is, since bluegrass is basically slightly amped up traditional string band music anyway, which are the roots of country music.) It sounds good to me.

 

LouieB

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It's odd but I'll tell this story anyways. A real good friend of mine (into death metal & Tool/NIN) took his niece to see Taylor in Boston in July. I guess she opened up for one of those dime-a-dozen country guys. Not sure who. But he said one thing that stuck with me that almost frightened him to make this statement: "Taylor Swift is going to be huge. Huge. The next big act." I asked him why he would think that. You know what evidence did he gather from that show to make him make such a statement. He told me "She sold every single piece of merchandise before (....) came out. I tried to buy my niece a shirt or something. Nothing. People were going more crazy for her than (....)." :blink Of course, it's entirely possible that the supply that they had was minimal.

 

Taylor Swift is awesome. you people just don't "get" her.

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i'd like to see them making an album which puts some effort into vocal harmonies.

 

maybe you're one of those people who doesn't like "country disappeared." maybe you were so turned opff by the first minute or so that you couldn't bear listening to it all the way to the end. or maybe you just forgot about the great harmonies at the end of that one.

 

i don't like it, no. you are correct - there are harmonies, but i certainly wouldn't call them great. by that, i don't mean they are out of tune, they are just boring - it's the vocal equivalent of someone playing a guitar riff and then someone else playing the exact same riff an octave higher, then the bass player plays the same riff too - it's just dull. or, a better way of looking at it is that it's not adding anything to the arrangement other than depth and volume.

 

i don't necessarily say this is something that jeff needs to work out, as the lyricist - really it should be the other band members working out what to sing, and how to do it. or, better still, get someone in the production chair, or in the band, who can actually arrange a piece of music with some flair!

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