The Gobblers Knob

Over the last few years, we as a listening public have decided to put all music into as many specific, defining, and constraining categories as we possibly can.  In fact, take a look at your favorite bands myspace page, I would wager my wife’s cats (you get them whether I win the bet or not) that the band has as many as 3 different “categories” listed as their musical style.  It is sad really, given the fact that I believe that there are 2 defining categories and 2 only: “Good” and “Not So Good”.  The band Wilco, has been as frequent a victim of this categorization craze as any band out there.  Rising from the ashes of the Alt-Country (whoops, category, sorry) Uber-Band Uncle Tupelo, Jeff Tweedy formed together a collection of players that began to put out some of the best, most diverse, and polarizing American Music of the last 10+ years.  When their first CD “A.M.” came out, it was seen as a logical extension, if a bit underwhelming, of the sound that Uncle Tupelo had mastered.  However, as the years and C.D. releases progressed, so did their lust for creating a new sound, different than the sounds of the past.  Fans from the bands early days cried blasphemy as “Misunderstood” would turn into a Wilco classic.  Those fans cried harder when “Summerteeth” was released, due to its seeming total departure from a sound that could be considered anywhere near “Alt-Country” or “Cow-Punk”.  After the release of Rock-oriented, almost experimental albums, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and “A Ghost is Born”, comes the release of their fine, more sparse and personal album “Sky Blue Sky”.  Again, this album has fans and critics interested in Brother P Touch-ing every release, split.  Some say its a return to their rootsier, more introspective beginnings, and others say that its a step in a new direction after the heavily produced sonics of the last two albums.  I say that it has created a third category for me (remember, earlier I said there were only “good” and “not so good”),  the new category is “Great.”

Wilco - What Light