journal.nonesuch.com

JamBase: Wilco's Outdoor Concert in Kansas "Cause for Celebration"

While Wilco's next scheduled tour date is a couple months away, folks are still talking about the band's May 14 show that took over the streets of downtown Lawrence, Kansas. The venue was a makeshift stage set up where 10th Street meets New Hampshire, and JamBase's Nathan Rodriguez writes that it was a "cause for celebration" among the locals.

In his blow-by-blow review of the show that includes photos and video, as well, Rodriguez says the band was "on-point," from "the buoyant, ambling rhythm" of the show opener, "Walken" from Sky Blue Sky, to the final encore, Mermaid Avenue's "Hoodoo Voodoo," with its "infectious" groove and "inspired, fiery guitar bursts," two-and-a-half hours later.

"Couldn't be a more perfect night," Tweedy told the crowd. "I think we got lucky!"

To read the concert review, visit jambase.com.

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Click here to add Wilco's Sky Blue Sky deluxe CD+DVD directly to your Shopping Cart for $21, and download the album MP3s at no additional cost.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Wilco Shows "Emotional Depth, Musical Breadth" in St. Louis Show

Wilco set in for a three-night residency at the The Pageant in St. Louis starting last Thursday. The sold-out shows marked the last tour dates from the band till the end of July, and, reports Daniel Durchholz in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Thursday's set dipped deep into Wilco's catalog and demonstrated the emotional depth and musical breadth of one of America's great bands."

Though the band moved seamlessly from purveyors of alt-folk to "strutting rock stars, delivering one adrenaline rush after another," writes Durcholz,

it was some of the concert's quieter moments that packed the most punch. The somber mood of "Ashes of American Flags" [from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot] was enhanced by Pat Sansone's ethereal keyboards and Glenn Kotche's orchestral bells, and then erased by Nels Cline's jazzy, jaw-dropping guitar solo. "On and On and On" [from Sky Blue Sky] was at once heartbreaking and full of hope.

To read the complete review, visit stltoday.com.

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Click here to add Wilco's Sky Blue Sky deluxe CD+DVD directly to your Shopping Cart for $21, and download the album MP3s at no additional cost.

Click here to add the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot CD to your Cart for $16, and download the album MP3s at no additional cost. 

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Here is our weekly list of just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

John Adams's opera A Flowering Tree received its Midwest premiere in Chicago's Millennium Park on Wednesday, with the composer conducting. The Chicago Opera Theater continues its production on Saturday with Adams conducting again. Tickets: chicagooperatheater.org.

On Sunday, at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, DC, The Choral Arts Society of Washington, under the direction of Norman Scribner, will perform Adams's oratorio El Niño, which received its world premiere at the Châtelet in Paris in 2000, directed by Peter Sellars with soloists Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, Willard White, who recorded the piece for its Nonesuch release. Tickets: kennedy-center.org.

Also on Sunday, the San Fransisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, led by Benjamin Schwartz, will perform Adams's 1995 piece Lollapalooza at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, along with Stravinsky's Le Chant du rossignol and Dvořák's "New World" Symphony (sfsymphony.org); and the American Philharmonic Sonoma County, led by Gabriel Sakakeeny, will perform Short Ride in a Fast Machine at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, California (wellsfargocenterarts.org).

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Laurie Anderson will bring her latest performance piece, Homeland, to Spain this weekend: at Auditorio de Garcia in Santiago de Compostela in the country's northwest tonight and Auditorio de Murcia, in Murcia in the southeast on Sunday night.

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After a couple of days in New York that included stops at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and WNYC's Soundcheck and a sold-out show at Terminal 5, The Black Keys are moving on to Philadelphia for a sold-out set at the Electric Factory tonight, then to Boston for a show at the Orpheum Theatre Saturday night. Its the last gig on this leg of the US tour before they head to Europe. Tickets: boston-theater.com.

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The European leg of the Raising Sands tour continues, with T Bone Burnett joining Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on stage in Stockholm, Sweden, tonight at the Stockholm Hovet (globearenas.se), and Oslo, Norway, on Sunday at the Oslo Spektrum (oslospektrum.no).

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Richard Goode joins the Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, with Peter Oundjian conducting, tonight at Salle Pleyel in Paris for a program of works by Jacques Hétu, Mozart, and Brahms. Tickets: sallepleyel.fr.

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Kronos Quartet is in Europe this month, performing tonight at the Internationales Congress Center as part of the Dresden International Music Festival in Dresden, Germany. The Quartet performs Terry Riley's 2002 piece Sun Rings, which was commissioned for the group by the NASA Art Program among many others. Tickets: musikfestspiel.com.

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Nicholas Payton began a four-night residency at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle, Washington, as the special guest of vibes master Bobby Hutcherson. For this presentation of KPLU 88.5 NPR and the Pacific Jazz Institute, Payton and Hutcherson are joined by Joe Gilman on piano, Glen Richman on bass, and Eddie Marshall on drums. Remaining performances this weekend include two sets each tonight and tomorrow night, plus a 7:30 set on Sunday. Tickets: jazzalley.com.

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Punch Brothers are back in full swing with the next leg of their US tour. They'll be at the the Satellite Ballroom in Charlottesville, Virginia, tonight (satelliteballroom.com); the Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis, Maryland, for two all-ages sets on Saturday, at 1 PM and 4 PM (tickets.ramsheadonstage.com); and the Mountain Stage Little Theatre in Charleston, West Virginia, on Sunday (mountainstage.org).

You can check out a recording of the band in concert on Live from Folk Alley now on folkalley.com. There's both video and streaming audio, as well as downloadable audio for members of the site, from a performance at The Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio, on April 2.

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Laura Veirs's solo tour continues with three stops this weekend: tonight at The 9:30 Listening Room in Louisville, Kentucky (the930.org); Saturday at The Basement in Nashville (thebasementnashville.com); and Sunday at The Earl in Atlanta (badearl.com); all with opener Liam Finn.

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Wilco two sold-out shows at The Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri, with opener Retribution Gospel Choir, featuring Alan Sparhawk of Low (thepageant.com). It's their last scheduled tour date before they ramp things up again for two shows in Alaska at the end of July with The Whipsaws.

Wilco Rocks the Streets of Lawrence, Kansas

Wilco fans took to the streets last night for the first outdoor concert held on the corner of Ninth and New Hampshire Streets in Lawrence, Kansas, which locals hope will be the first of many such events, according to the Lawrence Journal-World & News. A portion of the proceeds from the concert concessions will go to support the Lawrence Arts Center, which sits just next to the site.

Visit www2.ljworld.com for the report from the event; pore through a photo gallery, with more pictures like the above of Glenn Kotche by photographer John Henry; and watch the area TV news coverage on local channel 6.

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Click here to add Wilco's Sky Blue Sky deluxe CD+DVD directly to your Shopping Cart for $21, along with the album MP3s at no additional cost. For Wilco's complete Nonesuch catalog, click here.

NY Times Blog: Wilco's Chicago Loft Offers Countless Tools for the Recording Process

With Wilco out on tour---they play their second of two sold-out shows at Stubb's BBQ in Austin tonight---singer-songwriter Andrew Bird, who has joined the band on the road in the past, set up shop in the band's Chicago loft to record some of his own tracks. He writes about his experience there, and of the many details that go into the recording process, in the latest entry in the New York Times' "Measure for Measure" blog on the art of songwriting (which also features contributions from Rosanne Cash and Suzanne Vega.)

Bird describes the Loft as "the locus for Wilco's recording and vintage gear collecting over the last decade" that includes "any guitar, bass, obscure amp or piece of percussion you could imagine (in perfect operating order)." The hard part was putting it all together to get just the sound he, also working as producer, was looking for. You can read how it all played out in measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com.

For tickets to Wilco's next tour stop, this Wednesday at 10th & New Hampshire in Lawrence, Kansas, click here.

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Click here to add Wilco's Sky Blue Sky CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $16, along with the album MP3s at no additional cost. For Wilco's complete Nonesuch catalog, click here.

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Here is our weekly list of just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

John Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine receives two very different performances this weekend: first, tonight, at the Frauenthal Center, Muskegan, Michigan, by the West Shore Symphony Orchestra, led by Scott Speck. On Saturday night, the piece will be one of many Adams works included in the Hamburg Ballet's performance of choreographer John Neumeier's Parzifal: Episodes and Echo (pictured at right) at the Staatsoper in Hamburg. Also included are Tromba Lontana, Christian Zeal and Activity, The Wound-Dresser, El Dorado, and The Dharma at Big Sur. Tickets: hamburgballet.de.

The Black Gondola, the composer's orchestration of Liszt's La Lugubre Gondola, will receive two performances this weekend by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Trevor Pinnock, first at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam tonight, and then at de Vereeniging in Nijmegen, Netherlands, tomorrow. Tickets: concertgebouw.nl.

Also receiving two performances is Road Movies, which violinist Midori and pianist Charles Abramovic will play Saturday at Zeche Zollverein, in Essen, Germany, and on Sunday at Zehntscheuer in Rottenburg.
Also on Sunday, Adams's Chamber Symphony will be performed by the Tokyo Sinfonietta, led by Yasuaki Itakura, at Cité de la musique in Paris.

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Laurie Anderson brings her Homeland tour to the sparkling KKL Luzern Concert Hall in Switzerland tonight (tickets: kkl-luzern.ch) and then to Modena, Italy, for a performance at the Teatro Communale on Sunday.

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The European leg of the Raising Sand tour continues with T Bone Burnett joining Robert Plant and Alison Krauss in a sold-out concert at Philipshalle in Dusseldorf, Germany, Saturday night, and the Forest National Arena in Brussels on Sunday. Tonight, BBC Two will air the group's performance on Later ... with Jools Holland. You can watch a video preview of their set, the song "Killing the Blues," at bbc.co.uk/later. Also on Later tonight: Emmylou Harris, with a song from her forthcoming Nonesuch release, All I Intended to Be.

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Kronos Quartet has begun its tour of Europe, heading to Leon, Spain, tonight, for a performance that includes John Adams's Fellow Traveler, written for Kronos in celebration of Peter Sellars's 50th birthday. The Quartet will then bring the piece to Bucharest, Romania, on Sunday for a performance at Sala Radio that also includes Steve Reich's Triple Quartet, which the group premiered in 1999 and recorded for Nonesuch in 2001.

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The Blues Alley in Washington, DC, hosts Nicholas Payton tonight for the second night in a row; there will be an 8 PM and a 10 PM set. Tickets: bluesalley.com.

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Dawn Upshaw celebrates Mother's Day at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on Sunday with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in a program including the New York premiere of She Was Here, composer Osvaldo Golijov's arrangement of Schubert Lieder. (Tickets: carnegiehall.org.) Dawn spoke on WNYC's Soundcheck with host John Schaefer earlier this week on being dubbed "The Composers Muse," as she will be honored at a Meet the Composer benefit later this month.

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The next stop on Laura Veirs's solo tour, with opener Liam Finn, is Denver, Colorado, tonight for a show at the Walnut Room presented by Radio 1190. (Tickets: thewalnutroom.com.) On Sunday, they'll head to Omaha, Nebraska, for a set at the Slowdown's Front Room. (Tickets: theslowdown.com.)

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Wilco heads to the Southwest, with openers Retribution Gospel Choir (featuring Alan Sparhawk of Low), for a concert tonight at the University of New Mexico's Pope Joy Hall in Albuquerque (tickets: unmtickets.com), before heading to Austin, Texas, for two sold-out nights at Stubbs BBQ, beginning Sunday.

Winnipeg Sun: Wilco Delivers a "Typically Dynamo Set"

Wilco is back on tour in North America, and after their year-delayed stop in Winnipeg this past weekend (last summer's show there was canceled due to chicken pox in the band), the Winnipeg Sun's David Schmeichel says the band more than made up for it "with a typically dynamo set" that rates four stars.

After pointing to high points from each of the individual band members, Schmeichel draws attention to "Company in My Back," from their Grammy-winning 2004 album A Ghost Is Born, for providing "a sweet showcase for the band's well-honed hybrid of mid-'90s alt-country and '70s-influenced AM gold."

Judging by the performance, says Schmeichel, "it's safe to say we'd be willing to wait out another sick day for the next show."

To read the review, visit winnipegsun.com.

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Click here to add Wilco's A Ghost Is Born CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $16, along with the album MP3s at no additional cost. For Wilco's complete Nonesuch catalog, click here.

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Below are just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

The San Francisco Ballet will perform to John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony (2007) each night this weekend in Mark Morris's new piece, Joyride, for the final nights of the Ballet's New Works Festival Program B, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. "If you appreciate ballet that offers dazzlingly sophisticated musicality," says the San Francisco Chronicle, "then you could hardly do better than Mark Morris's Joyride." Tickets: sfballet.org.

The Thüringer Symphoniker, led by Oliver Weder, will pair Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Tromba Lontana for performances in Unterwellenborn, Germany, tonight and Saturday. Both pieces appear on the 1987 Nonesuch recording, The Chairman Dances. More info: boosey.com.

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Laurie Anderson continues her four-night residency at the Barbican in London through Saturday. Folks in the UK can catch Laurie on Later with Jools Holland tonight at 11:35 PM GMT, on BBC Two.

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Toumani Diabate will play a special concert in the intimate space of LSO St. Luke's in London, performing songs from his new solo CD, The Mande Variations, as part of the Barbican's Spring 08 Contemporary Events series.

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Bill Frisell's new quintet, featuring Chris Cheek on sax and clarinet, Larry Grenadier on bass, Ron Miles on cornet, and Rudy Royston on drums, will make its European debut on Sunday in Cheltenham, England's Everyman Theater as part of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Tickets: cheltenhamfestivals.com.

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Kronos Quartet plays its last US date of the season this Saturday before heading to Europe for the rest of May. The group will perform at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, with special guest Tanya Tagaq, for the LA premiere of their collaboration Nunavut and the world premiere of Derek Charke's Tundra Songs. (The Canadian Press has a profile of Tagaq, a throat singer from Arctic Canada, and Charke, a Nova Scotian composer, at canadianpress.google.com.) Kronos will also give the LA premiere of Tusen Tankar, the Nonesuch Store-exclusive bonus track on its latest release, The Cusp of Magic, and perform Sigur Rós's Flugufrelsarinn. Tickets: laphil.com.

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After making her way across Australia, k.d. lang returns to the Sydney State Theatre with her Watershed tour tonight and for a just-added second show, on Saturday, before heading to New Zealand next week.

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The Brad Mehldau Trio will perform two sets tonight at Western Michigan University's Williams Theater in Kalamazoo as part of the Gilmore Keyboard Festival's Jazz Club series. Tickets: thegilmoreiscoming.com.

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Friends of the Sheldon in St. Louis, Missouri, present Randy Newman at that city's Sheldon Concert Hall Sunday night for a concert to benefit the Hall's education programs, both in schools and at the venue. Tickets: thesheldon.org.

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Nicholas Payton, fresh off his performance at the New Orleans JazzFest last weekend, headlines the Main Street JazzFest in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on the festival's Main Stage Saturday at 7:30 PM. "Opportunities to see a jazz artist of Payton's caliber in the Middle Tennessee area are few and far between," says the Nashville Scene. All events are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule of events: mainstreetjazzfest.com.

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Punch Brothers' Chris Thile will play a late-night solo set at the Living Room on New York's Lower East Side at 11 PM Sunday night. Tickets: livingroomny.com.

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Steve Reich's 1994 piece for two marimbas, Nagoya Marimbas, will be performed tonight at the Royal Northern College of Music's Haden Freeman Concert Hall in Manchester, England, by the RNCM Percussion Ensemble's Ian Wright and Paul Patrick. On Satudray, the full, 46-minute version of the composer's Desert Music (1983), for amplified voices and orchestra, will be performed at Fairfield University's Quick Center in Connecticut, by New York's Shen Wei Dance Arts ensemble.

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Wilco will be in Winnipeg, Manitoba, tonight to play the Burton Cummings Theatre (named "one of Winnipeg's Seven Wonders" in a recent Winnipeg Free Press reader survey) and will head back south of the 49th parallel for a sold-out show at the Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman, Montana, Sunday night.

Wilco and The Black Keys Set to Perform at 3rd Virgin Mobile Festival This Summer

Wilco and The Black Keys will join Bob Dylan, Kanye West, Iggy Pop, Cat Power, Andrew Bird, and dozens of other artists performing at the third running of the Virgin Mobile Festival, August 9-10, at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Wilco will take the main stage on Saturday, August 9, while The Black Keys will play the main stage the next day.

Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 AM ET. For more information and a complete line-up, visit virginmobilefestival.com.

Nels Cline Plays Three Nights at New York's Jazz Standard

Wilco guitarist Nels Cline is in New York City this week for three shows at the Jazz Standard. Last night, he sat in with the Jeff Gauthier Goatette on an early set before performing a duo show with his twin brother Alex. Tonight and tomorrow night, he returns to the club for four sets in the singer-free Nels Cline Singers, with Davin Hoff on bass and Scott Amendola on drums and live electronics. For more information, visit nelscline.com.

Glenn Kotche Unveils New Works at UNC with Bang on a Can

Glenn Kotche and Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo joined the Bang on a Can All-Stars this past Saturday at the University of North Carolina's Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill for a marathon performance that featured new works by Glenn.

Bang on a Can's Evan Ziporyn told the University's Daily Tar Heel prior to the event that Glenn had written "some very ambitious music that reflects his diverse interests." Tar Heel staffer Nash Roberts reports that Glenn found inspiration for the new pieces at the University's Southern Folklife Collection, which he toured in between Wilco performances at the school in 2006.

"On that tour I witnessed a vast collection of media documenting Southern and American culture and music," Glenn tells the paper. "I thought it would be especially fitting for a new work based on this music to be premiered at the home of such an important collection."

To read the article, visti dailytarheel.com.

Wilco, The Black Keys, Amadou & Mariam to Play Lollapalooza 2008

Wilco, The Black Keys, Amadou & Mariam will be among the bands playing at this year's Lollapalooza festival, the event's organizers have announced. The lineup for the three-day festival, to be held at Chicago's Grant Park, August 1-3, includes more than 100 artists, including fellow headliners Radiohead, The Raconteurs, Nine Inch Nails, and Kanye West. To see the complete lineup and for more information on Lollapalooza 2008, visit lollapalooza.com.

You can also read the Billboard magazine Q&A with Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys on their new album, Attack & Release, and with the record's producer, Danger Mouse (whose band, Gnarls Barkley, headlines at Lollapaolooza as well), at billboard.com.

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Click here to add the Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no additional charge.

Ry Cooder Tops Billy Bragg's NY Times Playlist

Ry Cooder has topped the Sunday New York Times Playlist created by English singer/songwriter Billy Bragg, whose late-'90s collaboration with Wilco produced the memorable Mermaid Avenue albums, featuring the lyrics of Woody Guthrie.

Bragg says in the Times:

Ry Cooder is probably my guitar hero, as much for what he doesn't play as what he plays. The economy of his playing is something to be admired at a time when guitar players tend to think the more notes you play the better you are. My Name Is Buddy is up my street because it's capital-P Political. It's the story of the Depression told by a cat named Buddy. This does sound a bit odd ... but it works and hangs together beautifully.

There's a lot of love in the songs; they fit well in the tradition. Woody Guthrie's spirit runs through this record very strongly. Cooder plays stuff that we now refer to as Americana, but nobody called it that then. His excursions have been great, but for him to come back to where he began is pretty cool.

Listen to "One Cat, One Vote, One Beer" off of My Name Is Buddy:

To see what else Bragg recommends, you can read his complete Playlist at nytimes.com.

Wilco's Riviera Shows Featured in Rolling Stone Photo Gallery

Wilco made headlines (and more than a few fans very happy) last month when they settled in for a five-night residency at Chicago's Riviera to play their entire catalog of album songs. Rolling Stone was there and has published a gallery of behind-the-scenes pics by photographer Jeff Sciortino, like the one below, at rollingstone.com.

Click here for the complete gallery.

Glenn Kotche Plays Works from "Mobile" at NYC's The Kitchen

Glenn Kotche is in New York City for two sets, tonight and tomorrow night, with The National's Bryce Dessner at the famed downtown performance venue The Kitchen, before heading to Australia next week to join Wilco for a number of tour dates there and in New Zealand.

At The Kitchen, Glenn will perform works from his Nonesuch solo album, Mobile, and adaptations from Anomaly, a piece he wrote for and premiered with Kronos Quartet at the San Francisco Jazz Festival last October. He'll also play new arrangements of works by João Gilberto, Buddy Holly, and label mate Steve Reich. Each set begins at 8 PM. For more information, visit thekitchen.org.

Wilco to Air Webcast Live from New Orleans Tonight

Last night, Wilco performed the first of two nights at Tipitina's in New Orleans. The band returns tonight to the venue the New York Times has called "arguably the most famous musical haunt in a city famous for its music" and will air a live webcast from there. Tune in to wilcoworld.net/roadcase at midnight ET to listen to the show.

Wilco Makes "SNL" Debut Tonight

Wilco will be making its Saturday Night Live debut tonight on NBC, performing "Hate It Here" and "Walken" from the group's latest Nonesuch release, Sky Blue Sky. Ellen Page from the Academy Award-winning film Juno will be hosting. For more information, visit nbc.com.

You can hear a 2 1/2-hour live set from Wilco on All Songs Considered at npr.org/music. Listen to the album track "Hate It Here" here:

2 1/2 Hours of Live Wilco Now on NPR.org

Wilco performed the second of two sold-out sets at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club last night, and NPR was there, broadcasting the show live on its site. The complete show, nearly 2 1/2 hours of music, is available now at npr.org/music. Here's what you'll hear:

1. Sunken Treasure
2. Mountain Bed
3. Company in My Back
4. You Are My Face
5. Side with the Seeds
6. She's a Jar
7. Shot in the Arm
8. Nothingsever
9. Handshake Drugs
10. Pot Kettle Black
11. Roses Bloom
12. Impossible Germany
13. Simple
14. Someday Soon
15. Box Full of Letters
16. Always in Love
17. Pieholden
18. Jesus Etc.
19. Hate It Here
20. Walken
21. I'm the Man
22. Humming Bird
23. On and On and On
24. Via Chicago
25. California Stars
26. Casino Queen
27. I'm a Wheel
28. Monday

Wilco Show to Be Broadcast Live on NPR Tonight

Wilco played their first of two sold-out shows at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club last night. They'll return tonight for a performance that will be broadcast live online for NPR's All Songs Considered. You can catch it streaming live on NPR.org. The webcast will be the band's third for NPR, having previously appeared in 2005 for the Grammy-winning A Ghost Is Born and in 2006 following the release of Kicking Television (Live in Chicago).

Wilco, Live from New York

Tune in to NBC this Saturday night as Wilco makes its Saturday Night Live debut. The band is scheduled to perform two songs on the March 1 show, which airs live beginning at 11:30 PM ET. The show's host will be Ellen Page, the Oscar-nominated star of the film Juno. For more information, visit nbc.com.

Wilco's performance at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center this Friday has been rescheduled for August 7 due to the above. All tickets for the February 29 show will be honored for the rescheduled date, and refunds will be available from your point of purchase. The band sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience this change in schedule has caused.

Wilco "Delivers the Goods" in Five-Night Chicago Residency; Live on WXRT

There are just two more shows in Wilco's residency at the Riviera in Chicago, where they're playing through their entire catalog of six studio albums over just five nights. Tonight's set will be broadcast live on Chicago radio station 93.1, WXRT, and streaming at wxrt.com, starting at 7:30 PM CST. Also on wxrt.com is a ten-part podcast Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy made for the station's Electric Company, which you can download or listen to online.

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Each of Chicago's leading papers has complete coverage of the five-night residency. The Tribune's Greg Kot (who, literally, wrote the book on Wilco with the band chronicle Wilco: Learning How to Die) is particularly impressed by the current sextet's ability to play across the multitude of sounds the group has produced over the years. Kot has a song-by-song run-down of each set and praise for each of the band's members---from the "orchestral richness" provided by Mikael Jorgensen and Pat Sansone to Glenn Kotche's inimitable playing at any speed and Nels Cline's ability to consistently take songs "to a better place."

The threads through all the songs they're performing over these five days are the band's two founding members, Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt. Writes Kot:

Their vocal harmonies are the one reassuring constant that links all those eras ... If nothing else, these shows reaffirmed how quietly crucial Stirratt has been to the band's sound, not only with his high harmonies and melodic bass playing, but with his enthusiasm ... Tweedy's evolution was also apparent. He's worked on his singing and guitar playing, and become better at both over the years.

To read Kot's coverage, visit leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com.

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At the Sun-Times, Anders Smith Lindall calls the mood at the first night's performance "celebratory, and the focus was where it belonged: on the band and its breadth."

On night two, writes the paper's Jeff Miller,

Wilco delivered the goods ... in a nearly non-stop slew of rarities, special guests [including Andrew Bird], and re-arranged standards that so pleased the sold-out crowd that an encore was demanded---even after the house lights and the backdrop came up.

The band's inclusion of a few repeated songs from the night before was, according to Tweedy, meant to keep things rocking, which, reports Miller, "they achieved, unquestionably."

To read Miller's full report, click here.

Wilco Kicks Off Five-Night Hometown Residency

It's forecast to be a typically wintry February night tonight in Chicago, but for some 2,500 lucky Wilco fans, it will be a far from typical Friday evening at the Riviera Theater. That's because the band will be kicking off a five-night, sold-out residency for the hometown crowd. The guys are looking to change things up for each of the five performances, playing their entire back catalog in the process. Following tonight's show will be a set on Saturday (each starts at 8:30), then Monday through Wednesday (starting at 7:30). For further tour information, click here.

Wilco, Black Keys, Punch Brothers Celebrate the Grammys

This past Sunday, much of the music world converged on the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Nonesuch was well represented there and at the after-party thrown by the Warner Music Group. Here are some shots of the guys from Wilco, The Black Keys, and Punch Brothers, joined by their dates, from the two events.

Wilco at the Grammys

(l. to r.) Georgia Sansone (Pat's mom), Pat Sansone, Nels Cline, Sue Miller Tweedy, Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Crissy Stirratt, Miiri Kotche, Glenn Kotche, Cassandra Jones, and Mikael Jorgensen

--- Pat, John, Glenn, Jeff, Mikael, and Nels do the red carpet.

 

Label Mates Meet Up at the After-Party Wilco arrives at the Warner Music Group after-party.
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Pat Carney (Black Keys), Miiri Kotche, Glenn Kotche, Amy Hathaway, and Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers)

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First and fourth photos by Melissa Cusick; second and third by Wire Image.

Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" Makes the Shortlist Short List

The nominees for the Shortlist prize have been narrowed down from the 54 artists on the Long List down to ten finalists, including Wilco, nominated for Sky Blue Sky. The band is one of only three on the list to have been nominated before, for A Ghost Is Born in 2003. Recent Shortlist winners include Cat Power, Sufjan Stevens, and TV on the Radio. This year's winners will be announced next month.

For more on the Shortlist and the nominees, visit shortlistofmusic.com.

Santa Barbara Independent: Bill Frisell This Week's Show of the Week

The Santa Barbara Independent takes advantage of the start of the New Year to combine the paper's list of the best of last year with a look at the best of what's to come. There Will Be Blood is among the best films of 2007, and among the city's best live shows last year, the Independent's Josef Woodard lists both Wilco's concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl in support of Sky Blue Sky and the Pat Metheny / Brad Mehldau Quartet gig at Campbell Hall.

For this week's Show of the Week, Woodard names Bill Frisell's return to the city's Lobero Theatre, where "the always intriguing and poetic guitarist" will perform on Saturday with drummer Joey Baron. Woodard recalls Bill's 2004 performance at the Lobero as "one of the more enchanted musical encounters in the long history" of the Theatre, and says that Frisell "continues to surprise and delight," citing the guitarist's "dynamic" 2006 Nonesuch release with the "inspired" Ron Carter and Paul Motian.

To read the article, visit independent.com. For more information on Bill's show this Saturday, visit lobero.com.

Chicago Tribune Recommends Upcoming Wilco, Magnetic Fields Shows

The Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot recommends two upcoming area performances from Nonesuch artists that just go to show that "the real action during the winter is in the clubs." Wilco will set up shop at the Riviera for a five-night residency, February 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20. The following month, on March 14, The Magnetic Fields take that stage at the Old Town School of Folk Music, with songs from their upcoming release, Distortion. For further details, visit chicagotribune.com.

Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" Nominated for Shorlist Prize

Wilco's Sky Blue Sky, it's just been announced, is among the nominees for the 2007 Shortlist Music Prize, which recognizes the most creative and adventurous albums of the year. The winner will be announced early next year. Wilco was previously nominated for the Shortlist Prize in 2004 for their last album, A Ghost Is Born.

For the complete list of nominees and to hear songs from the nominated albums, visit shortlistofmusic.com.

Boston Herald: Wilco May Be "Band of the Decade"

Wilco's Sky Blue Sky is on the Boston Herald's music critics' list for Best of 2007. The Herald writes that "Jeff Tweedy finds a foil and ace guitarist in Nels Cline and proves what music geeks have said for years: Wilco may be the American band of the decade."

For the complete list, visit news.bostonherald.com.

Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" on Acoustic Café Best of 2007 Program

The popular syndicated radio show Acoustic Café has named Wilco's Sky Blue Sky among the year's best albums. You can hear the title track off the album on this week's program, streaming online at mlive.com/cafe.

Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" Among Year's Best on NPR Listeners' List for 2007

NPR listeners have had their say: Wilco's Sky Blue Sky is one of the year's best CDs. The album, released in May, is still holding sway with listeners, whose votes placed the record in the top five, in the company of Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Feist, and the White Stripes.

For the Top 25 listeners' picks and to hear "Hate It Hear" off Sky Blue Sky, visit npr.org.

Wilco, Laura Veirs Faves in Humboldt County

North Coast Journal out of Humboldt County, California, asked some of the area's music mavens for their picks of the year's best. Gini Noggle, owner of the local record shop Metro, says Wilco's Sky Blue Sky is her favorite. "I fell in love with this CD," she says. "I have played it every day at work since it came out this summer (I’m not kidding) and it still sounds fresh every time. Jeff Tweedy could sing the phone book and I’d be riveted, his voice is that good."

And Mike Dronkers, program/music director of area radio station KHUM, lists Laura Veirs's Saltbreakers among his favorites for 2007.

To read what some of the other local luminaries have to say, visit northcoastjournal.com.

Wilco Helps Inaugurate BluesfestNZ in March 2008

Wilco will be on hand when Australia's award-winning Byron Bay Blues Festival makes its way across the Tasman Sea to launch a New Zealand offshoot in 2008 called BluesfestNZ (aka the Coromandel Peninsula Blues and Roots Music Festival 2008). The band will be joining the line-up for the inaugural event as part of its March 2008 tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Learn more about BluesfestNZ at bluesfest.co.nz. For information on Wilco's tour of the Southern Hemisphere and the States, click here.

Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" Makes WFUV Best of 2007 List

Wilco's Sky Blue Sky has made the Best of 2007 list from WFUV, 90.9 FM, in New York. "Another great album from Wilco," writes WFUV's music director, Rita Houston, "Sky Blue Sky doesn't hit a wrong note."

For more from Rita and to listen to "Impossible Germany" off the album, visit npr.org.

Wilco, Audra McDonald, John Adams Make Alex Ross's Best of 2007 List

Alex Ross, the New Yorker's classical music critic, has posted on his blog, The Rest Is Noise, his Apex 07 list—some of the best performances and recordings he's heard this year. Among the best on CD: Wilco's "On and On and On," the closing track from Sky Blue Sky. And among his favorite performances of 2007 are the January 20 Disney Hall performance of John Adams's Näive and Sentimental Music by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Philharmonic (which recorded the 2002 Nonesuch recording), and Audra MacDonald in a Valentine's Day performance of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at LA Opera.

You can read the complete list on therestisnoise.com. You can watch Audra in Mahagonny this week on PBS's Great Performances. Check PBS.com or your local PBS station for listings.

BBC 6: Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" Among Year's Best

Wilco's Sky Blue Sky was the BBC Radio 6 Album of the Day today, as part of the station's weeklong run-down of the year's best according to its various presenters. Shaun Keaveny, host of the weekday Breakfast Show, named the album his pick for the year's best.

Click here for more on the BBC 6 Album of the Day.