10 Year Anni: Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

If you think you're too good for this album or these guys, I assure you: you are wrong.

My first memory of Wilco took place in the summer of 2002.  I had just finished my sophomore year of high school and was searching for something different than New Found Glory, Sum 41, and The Ataris (no shame).  The new cool was the Indie 103.1 radio station where I also heard Pinback and Phoenix for the first time.  I remember sitting on my bed and listening to one of these.  I heard Jesus Etc. and immediately loved it.  The alt-country band was criticized for "losing their sound" but they assured their fanbase and the media that they had not.  I remember thinking many years later I loved this album so much because you could throw is on at any occasion - the music supervisor on He's Just Not That Into You felt the same way when they used "I Must Be High" (from 1995's AM) in the bar scene where Jason Long is trying to explain the minds of men to that darling red head.

I've seen the boys from the Windy City twice now.  The first in 09 at the Wilco the Album tour and most recently in January (nicely photographed and edited thanks for instagram).  The former was extra special because Feist came out and sang You & I with Jeff.  And honestly, the first time I heard Nels Cline's solo on Impossible Germany was something out of this world.  Don't get me wrong - the second time was great, as well, but there were a lot of gems missing from the set list including my very favorite from today's featured album - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.  Below you will notice my favorite Wilco pal, Kimball, who left me a funny comment a few days after the show on my day of birth.  He was halfway mocking me as he had seen Wilco at their next two LA shows I missed, where they indeed played that and the others I longed for - Heavy Metal Drummer, Theologians, CA Stars, Say You Miss Me, Spiders, and Muzzle of Bees (a more detailed post coming soon on the music of the Friday Night Lights series that includes this favorite from A Ghost is Born) just to name a few. 

The album is classic.  In my mind it is not tainted, but influential and timeless.  Cheers to Wilco for a good decade of car sing alongs, big, fat melodramatic tears and everything in between.