Wilco has released a live version of “Pot Kettle Black,” from their famed concert at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO on July 23, 2002, —20 years ago this Saturday—featured in the forthcoming Super Deluxe and Deluxe editions of the band’s landmark 2002 album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, out this fall. You can hear it below and pre-order the new anniversary editions of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot here.
The now-classic record has been remastered and will be available as part of each set. The Super Deluxe version comprises eleven vinyl LPs and one CD—including demos, drafts, and instrumentals, charting the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot—plus a live 2002 concert recording and a September 2001 radio performance and interview. That box set includes eighty-two previously unreleased music tracks as well as a new book featuring an interview with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke, who mixed the acclaimed 2002 album; an in-depth essay by journalist/author Bob Mehr; and previously unseen photos of the band making the album in their Chicago studio, The Loft. For the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot recording, Wilco was Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach, Glenn Kotche, and Jay Bennett with Craig Christiansen, Ken Coomer, Jessy Greene, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Jim O’Rourke.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was widely acclaimed as one of 2002’s best albums, appearing in year-end lists of Mojo, NME, Q, Rolling Stone, and Uncut, among many others. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot also was featured in multiple decade-end lists, with Rolling Stone naming it #3 Album of the 2000s, as well as many Greatest Albums of All Time lists, including in the NME.
Among Yankee’s inspirations was a recording Tweedy bought at Tower Records in the late 1990s, The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations. As Bob Mehr points out in his new album note, the record got “deep under Tweedy’s skin.” Tweedy said in his 2017 memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), “It was as fascinating to me as anything being made by actual musicians using actual instruments … I wanted to know why it was so hypnotic to me. Why could I listen to hours of this stuff, even though I had no clue what any of them were saying. That question became the foundation for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot … the way people communicated or ultimately failed to communicate.” The album takes its title from a haunting recording of a woman repeating those words that is included in The Conet Project; that recording is sampled in the penultimate song on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, “Poor Places.”
“Conceptually, Tweedy had decided to focus on a big idea for the next album: the state of America. His lyrics—often distilled from scribbled pages of free verse or poetry—became a form of inquiry,” Mehr continues. Tweedy said, in 2004, “I wanted to write about the stuff right in front of my eyes, microscopically looking at America and asking questions about each little thing … How can there be all these good things and things that I love about America, alongside all of these things that I’m ashamed of? And that was an internal question, too; I think I felt that way about myself.”
Mehr says, “Exploring those questions, while weaving in strands of Eastern philosophy and bits of autobiography—Yankee lyrics would be loaded with the pained imagery of someone suffering from migraines and mental health issues—Tweedy would conjure a deep examination of both country and self.”
Describing the uncanny, strangely prescient feeling of the album, which Wilco began offering as a free stream on its website in 2001, Mehr notes: “In the wake of 9/11, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would be burdened with unintended meaning. The disc had originally been scheduled for a September 11 release. Its cover—a Sam Jones-shot image of Chicago’s twin Marina Towers angled in looming fashion—bore an eerie resemblance to the felled World Trade Center towers. And the songs—with titles like ‘Ashes of American Flags’ and ‘War on War,’ and lyrics about how ‘tall buildings shake, sad voices escape’—took on a terrible new resonance.”
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first Wilco release on Nonesuch Records following the band’s infamous split with Reprise (both labels are part of Warner Music Group). It was also the first release featuring the line-up of drummer Glenn Kotche and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach joining founding members Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt. The 2002 Sam Jones film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart documented the fraught recording and mixing process, personnel changes, and label issues.
The relationship with Nonesuch would last nearly a decade and include three more studio albums—the Grammy Award-winning A ghost is born, Sky Blue Sky, and Wilco (the album)—along with a live album and a live DVD, plus reissues of earlier records, before Wilco began its own label, dBpm. The band’s current lineup of Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Mikael Jorgensen, Patrick Sansone, and Nels Cline has been together for nearly twenty years.
11 LP & 1 CD Super Deluxe Edition 82 previously unreleased tracks
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags Heavy Metal Drummer I’m the Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations
Remastered and cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
American Aquarium: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Anniversary (Nothing up My Sleeve) Venus Stopped the Train Poor Places I Am Trying to Break Your Heart American Aquarium Cars Can’t Escape Kamera War On War * I’m the Man Who Loves You * Ashes of American Flags Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Shakin’ Sugar Let Me Come Home Poor Places Reservations
*previously issued on a limited-edition vinyl 7”
Here Comes Everybody: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Venus Stopped the Train I’m the Man Who Loves You The Good Part Pot Kettle Black Ashes of American Flags Poor Places Shakin’ Sugar Reservations Cars Can’t Escape
The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
A Magazine Called Sunset Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags (Stravinsky Mix) Heavy Metal Drummer I’m the Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations
Lonely in the Deep End: Demos, Drafts, Instrumentals, Etc.
Love Will (Let You Down) Lost Poem Demo I’m the Only One Who Lets Her Down Has Anybody Seen My Pencil? The Good Part A Magazine Called Sunset A Magazine Called Sunset (Backing Track) Anniversary (Nothing Up My Sleeve) Kamera I’m the Man Who Loves You I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Jesus, Etc. Reservations (Backing Track) Let Me Come Home (Synth) Ooby Dooby
Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart I’m the Man Who Loves You War on War Kamera Radio Cure A Shot in the Arm She’s a Jar I’m Always in Love Sunken Treasure Jesus, Etc. Heavy Metal Drummer Pot Kettle Black Ashes of American Flags Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Reservations California Stars Red-Eyed and Blue I Got You (At the End of the Century) Misunderstood Far, Far Away Outtasite (Outta Mind) I’m a Wheel
TRANSMISSION: 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT – Chicago, IL, With Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis
Interview, Pt. 1 War on War (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 2 Interview, Pt. 3 I’m the Man Who Loves You (Live in Studio) * Interview, Pt. 4 Should’ve Been in Love (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 5 She’s a Jar (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 6 Ashes of American Flags (Live in Studio)
*previously issued on the “War On War” CD single in the UK
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr Extensive conversation among Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, Jim O’Rourke, and set co-producer Cheryl Pawelski
8 CD Super Deluxe CD Edition 82 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) American Aquarium: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Here Comes Everybody: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Lonely in the Deep End: Demos, Drafts, Instrumentals, Etc. TRANSMISSION CD: 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT – Chicago, IL, With Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr Extensive conversation among Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, Jim O’Rourke, and set co-producer Cheryl Pawelski
7 LP Deluxe Edition 39 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Performances from TRANSMISSION – 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT-Chicago, IL with Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr
Digital Deluxe Edition 39 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO Performances from TRANSMISSION – 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT-Chicago, IL with Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis
2 CD Expanded Edition 18 previously unreleased tracks
Alternate album version (The Unified Theory of Everything) plus bonus tracks:
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Kamera (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Radio Cure (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) War on War (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Jesus, Etc. (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Ashes of American Flags (Stravinsky Mix) (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Heavy Metal Drummer (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) I’m the Man Who Loves You (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Pot Kettle Black (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Poor Places (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Reservations (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Shakin’ Sugar (American Aquarium Version) Venus Stopped the Train (Here Comes Everybody Version) Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) A Magazine Called Sunset (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) The Good Part (Here Comes Everybody Version) Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) (Here Comes Everybody Version) Cars Can’t Escape (Here Comes Everybody Version)
Wilco has released a live version of “Pot Kettle Black,” from their famed concert at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO on July 23, 2002, —20 years ago this Saturday—featured in the forthcoming Super Deluxe and Deluxe editions of the band’s landmark 2002 album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, out this fall. You can hear it below and pre-order the new anniversary editions of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot here.
The now-classic record has been remastered and will be available as part of each set. The Super Deluxe version comprises eleven vinyl LPs and one CD—including demos, drafts, and instrumentals, charting the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot—plus a live 2002 concert recording and a September 2001 radio performance and interview. That box set includes eighty-two previously unreleased music tracks as well as a new book featuring an interview with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke, who mixed the acclaimed 2002 album; an in-depth essay by journalist/author Bob Mehr; and previously unseen photos of the band making the album in their Chicago studio, The Loft. For the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot recording, Wilco was Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach, Glenn Kotche, and Jay Bennett with Craig Christiansen, Ken Coomer, Jessy Greene, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Jim O’Rourke.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was widely acclaimed as one of 2002’s best albums, appearing in year-end lists of Mojo, NME, Q, Rolling Stone, and Uncut, among many others. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot also was featured in multiple decade-end lists, with Rolling Stone naming it #3 Album of the 2000s, as well as many Greatest Albums of All Time lists, including in the NME.
Among Yankee’s inspirations was a recording Tweedy bought at Tower Records in the late 1990s, The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations. As Bob Mehr points out in his new album note, the record got “deep under Tweedy’s skin.” Tweedy said in his 2017 memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), “It was as fascinating to me as anything being made by actual musicians using actual instruments … I wanted to know why it was so hypnotic to me. Why could I listen to hours of this stuff, even though I had no clue what any of them were saying. That question became the foundation for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot … the way people communicated or ultimately failed to communicate.” The album takes its title from a haunting recording of a woman repeating those words that is included in The Conet Project; that recording is sampled in the penultimate song on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, “Poor Places.”
“Conceptually, Tweedy had decided to focus on a big idea for the next album: the state of America. His lyrics—often distilled from scribbled pages of free verse or poetry—became a form of inquiry,” Mehr continues. Tweedy said, in 2004, “I wanted to write about the stuff right in front of my eyes, microscopically looking at America and asking questions about each little thing … How can there be all these good things and things that I love about America, alongside all of these things that I’m ashamed of? And that was an internal question, too; I think I felt that way about myself.”
Mehr says, “Exploring those questions, while weaving in strands of Eastern philosophy and bits of autobiography—Yankee lyrics would be loaded with the pained imagery of someone suffering from migraines and mental health issues—Tweedy would conjure a deep examination of both country and self.”
Describing the uncanny, strangely prescient feeling of the album, which Wilco began offering as a free stream on its website in 2001, Mehr notes: “In the wake of 9/11, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would be burdened with unintended meaning. The disc had originally been scheduled for a September 11 release. Its cover—a Sam Jones-shot image of Chicago’s twin Marina Towers angled in looming fashion—bore an eerie resemblance to the felled World Trade Center towers. And the songs—with titles like ‘Ashes of American Flags’ and ‘War on War,’ and lyrics about how ‘tall buildings shake, sad voices escape’—took on a terrible new resonance.”
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first Wilco release on Nonesuch Records following the band’s infamous split with Reprise (both labels are part of Warner Music Group). It was also the first release featuring the line-up of drummer Glenn Kotche and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach joining founding members Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt. The 2002 Sam Jones film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart documented the fraught recording and mixing process, personnel changes, and label issues.
The relationship with Nonesuch would last nearly a decade and include three more studio albums—the Grammy Award-winning A ghost is born, Sky Blue Sky, and Wilco (the album)—along with a live album and a live DVD, plus reissues of earlier records, before Wilco began its own label, dBpm. The band’s current lineup of Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Mikael Jorgensen, Patrick Sansone, and Nels Cline has been together for nearly twenty years.
11 LP & 1 CD Super Deluxe Edition 82 previously unreleased tracks
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags Heavy Metal Drummer I’m the Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations
Remastered and cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
American Aquarium: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Anniversary (Nothing up My Sleeve) Venus Stopped the Train Poor Places I Am Trying to Break Your Heart American Aquarium Cars Can’t Escape Kamera War On War * I’m the Man Who Loves You * Ashes of American Flags Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Shakin’ Sugar Let Me Come Home Poor Places Reservations
*previously issued on a limited-edition vinyl 7”
Here Comes Everybody: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Venus Stopped the Train I’m the Man Who Loves You The Good Part Pot Kettle Black Ashes of American Flags Poor Places Shakin’ Sugar Reservations Cars Can’t Escape
The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
A Magazine Called Sunset Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags (Stravinsky Mix) Heavy Metal Drummer I’m the Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations
Lonely in the Deep End: Demos, Drafts, Instrumentals, Etc.
Love Will (Let You Down) Lost Poem Demo I’m the Only One Who Lets Her Down Has Anybody Seen My Pencil? The Good Part A Magazine Called Sunset A Magazine Called Sunset (Backing Track) Anniversary (Nothing Up My Sleeve) Kamera I’m the Man Who Loves You I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Jesus, Etc. Reservations (Backing Track) Let Me Come Home (Synth) Ooby Dooby
Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart I’m the Man Who Loves You War on War Kamera Radio Cure A Shot in the Arm She’s a Jar I’m Always in Love Sunken Treasure Jesus, Etc. Heavy Metal Drummer Pot Kettle Black Ashes of American Flags Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Reservations California Stars Red-Eyed and Blue I Got You (At the End of the Century) Misunderstood Far, Far Away Outtasite (Outta Mind) I’m a Wheel
TRANSMISSION: 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT – Chicago, IL, With Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis
Interview, Pt. 1 War on War (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 2 Interview, Pt. 3 I’m the Man Who Loves You (Live in Studio) * Interview, Pt. 4 Should’ve Been in Love (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 5 She’s a Jar (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 6 Ashes of American Flags (Live in Studio)
*previously issued on the “War On War” CD single in the UK
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr Extensive conversation among Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, Jim O’Rourke, and set co-producer Cheryl Pawelski
8 CD Super Deluxe CD Edition 82 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) American Aquarium: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Here Comes Everybody: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Lonely in the Deep End: Demos, Drafts, Instrumentals, Etc. TRANSMISSION CD: 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT – Chicago, IL, With Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr Extensive conversation among Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, Jim O’Rourke, and set co-producer Cheryl Pawelski
7 LP Deluxe Edition 39 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Performances from TRANSMISSION – 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT-Chicago, IL with Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr
Digital Deluxe Edition 39 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO Performances from TRANSMISSION – 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT-Chicago, IL with Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis
2 CD Expanded Edition 18 previously unreleased tracks
Alternate album version (The Unified Theory of Everything) plus bonus tracks:
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Kamera (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Radio Cure (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) War on War (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Jesus, Etc. (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Ashes of American Flags (Stravinsky Mix) (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Heavy Metal Drummer (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) I’m the Man Who Loves You (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Pot Kettle Black (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Poor Places (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Reservations (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Shakin’ Sugar (American Aquarium Version) Venus Stopped the Train (Here Comes Everybody Version) Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) A Magazine Called Sunset (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) The Good Part (Here Comes Everybody Version) Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) (Here Comes Everybody Version) Cars Can’t Escape (Here Comes Everybody Version)
Wilco has released a live version of “Pot Kettle Black,” from their famed concert at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO, on July 23, 2002—20 years ago this Saturday—featured in the forthcoming Super Deluxe and Deluxe editions of the band’s landmark 2002 album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, out this fall. You can hear it here.
Wilco has released a live version of “Pot Kettle Black,” from their famed concert at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO on July 23, 2002, —20 years ago this Saturday—featured in the forthcoming Super Deluxe and Deluxe editions of the band’s landmark 2002 album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, out this fall. You can hear it below and pre-order the new anniversary editions of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot here.
The now-classic record has been remastered and will be available as part of each set. The Super Deluxe version comprises eleven vinyl LPs and one CD—including demos, drafts, and instrumentals, charting the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot—plus a live 2002 concert recording and a September 2001 radio performance and interview. That box set includes eighty-two previously unreleased music tracks as well as a new book featuring an interview with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke, who mixed the acclaimed 2002 album; an in-depth essay by journalist/author Bob Mehr; and previously unseen photos of the band making the album in their Chicago studio, The Loft. For the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot recording, Wilco was Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach, Glenn Kotche, and Jay Bennett with Craig Christiansen, Ken Coomer, Jessy Greene, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Jim O’Rourke.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was widely acclaimed as one of 2002’s best albums, appearing in year-end lists of Mojo, NME, Q, Rolling Stone, and Uncut, among many others. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot also was featured in multiple decade-end lists, with Rolling Stone naming it #3 Album of the 2000s, as well as many Greatest Albums of All Time lists, including in the NME.
Among Yankee’s inspirations was a recording Tweedy bought at Tower Records in the late 1990s, The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations. As Bob Mehr points out in his new album note, the record got “deep under Tweedy’s skin.” Tweedy said in his 2017 memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), “It was as fascinating to me as anything being made by actual musicians using actual instruments … I wanted to know why it was so hypnotic to me. Why could I listen to hours of this stuff, even though I had no clue what any of them were saying. That question became the foundation for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot … the way people communicated or ultimately failed to communicate.” The album takes its title from a haunting recording of a woman repeating those words that is included in The Conet Project; that recording is sampled in the penultimate song on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, “Poor Places.”
“Conceptually, Tweedy had decided to focus on a big idea for the next album: the state of America. His lyrics—often distilled from scribbled pages of free verse or poetry—became a form of inquiry,” Mehr continues. Tweedy said, in 2004, “I wanted to write about the stuff right in front of my eyes, microscopically looking at America and asking questions about each little thing … How can there be all these good things and things that I love about America, alongside all of these things that I’m ashamed of? And that was an internal question, too; I think I felt that way about myself.”
Mehr says, “Exploring those questions, while weaving in strands of Eastern philosophy and bits of autobiography—Yankee lyrics would be loaded with the pained imagery of someone suffering from migraines and mental health issues—Tweedy would conjure a deep examination of both country and self.”
Describing the uncanny, strangely prescient feeling of the album, which Wilco began offering as a free stream on its website in 2001, Mehr notes: “In the wake of 9/11, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would be burdened with unintended meaning. The disc had originally been scheduled for a September 11 release. Its cover—a Sam Jones-shot image of Chicago’s twin Marina Towers angled in looming fashion—bore an eerie resemblance to the felled World Trade Center towers. And the songs—with titles like ‘Ashes of American Flags’ and ‘War on War,’ and lyrics about how ‘tall buildings shake, sad voices escape’—took on a terrible new resonance.”
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first Wilco release on Nonesuch Records following the band’s infamous split with Reprise (both labels are part of Warner Music Group). It was also the first release featuring the line-up of drummer Glenn Kotche and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach joining founding members Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt. The 2002 Sam Jones film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart documented the fraught recording and mixing process, personnel changes, and label issues.
The relationship with Nonesuch would last nearly a decade and include three more studio albums—the Grammy Award-winning A ghost is born, Sky Blue Sky, and Wilco (the album)—along with a live album and a live DVD, plus reissues of earlier records, before Wilco began its own label, dBpm. The band’s current lineup of Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Mikael Jorgensen, Patrick Sansone, and Nels Cline has been together for nearly twenty years.
11 LP & 1 CD Super Deluxe Edition 82 previously unreleased tracks
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags Heavy Metal Drummer I’m the Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations
Remastered and cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
American Aquarium: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Anniversary (Nothing up My Sleeve) Venus Stopped the Train Poor Places I Am Trying to Break Your Heart American Aquarium Cars Can’t Escape Kamera War On War * I’m the Man Who Loves You * Ashes of American Flags Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Shakin’ Sugar Let Me Come Home Poor Places Reservations
*previously issued on a limited-edition vinyl 7”
Here Comes Everybody: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Venus Stopped the Train I’m the Man Who Loves You The Good Part Pot Kettle Black Ashes of American Flags Poor Places Shakin’ Sugar Reservations Cars Can’t Escape
The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
A Magazine Called Sunset Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War on War Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags (Stravinsky Mix) Heavy Metal Drummer I’m the Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations
Lonely in the Deep End: Demos, Drafts, Instrumentals, Etc.
Love Will (Let You Down) Lost Poem Demo I’m the Only One Who Lets Her Down Has Anybody Seen My Pencil? The Good Part A Magazine Called Sunset A Magazine Called Sunset (Backing Track) Anniversary (Nothing Up My Sleeve) Kamera I’m the Man Who Loves You I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Jesus, Etc. Reservations (Backing Track) Let Me Come Home (Synth) Ooby Dooby
Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart I’m the Man Who Loves You War on War Kamera Radio Cure A Shot in the Arm She’s a Jar I’m Always in Love Sunken Treasure Jesus, Etc. Heavy Metal Drummer Pot Kettle Black Ashes of American Flags Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) Reservations California Stars Red-Eyed and Blue I Got You (At the End of the Century) Misunderstood Far, Far Away Outtasite (Outta Mind) I’m a Wheel
TRANSMISSION: 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT – Chicago, IL, With Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis
Interview, Pt. 1 War on War (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 2 Interview, Pt. 3 I’m the Man Who Loves You (Live in Studio) * Interview, Pt. 4 Should’ve Been in Love (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 5 She’s a Jar (Live in Studio) Interview, Pt. 6 Ashes of American Flags (Live in Studio)
*previously issued on the “War On War” CD single in the UK
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr Extensive conversation among Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, Jim O’Rourke, and set co-producer Cheryl Pawelski
8 CD Super Deluxe CD Edition 82 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) American Aquarium: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Here Comes Everybody: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Lonely in the Deep End: Demos, Drafts, Instrumentals, Etc. TRANSMISSION CD: 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT – Chicago, IL, With Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr Extensive conversation among Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, Jim O’Rourke, and set co-producer Cheryl Pawelski
7 LP Deluxe Edition 39 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Performances from TRANSMISSION – 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT-Chicago, IL with Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
Booklet New liner notes by Bob Mehr
Digital Deluxe Edition 39 previously unreleased tracks (see above track lists)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) The Unified Theory of Everything: Building Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Snoozin’ at The Pageant – Live 7/23/02 at The Pageant, St. Louis, MO Performances from TRANSMISSION – 9/18/01 Sound Opinions WXRT-Chicago, IL with Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis
2 CD Expanded Edition 18 previously unreleased tracks
Alternate album version (The Unified Theory of Everything) plus bonus tracks:
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Kamera (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Radio Cure (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) War on War (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Jesus, Etc. (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Ashes of American Flags (Stravinsky Mix) (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Heavy Metal Drummer (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) I’m the Man Who Loves You (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Pot Kettle Black (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Poor Places (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Reservations (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) Shakin’ Sugar (American Aquarium Version) Venus Stopped the Train (Here Comes Everybody Version) Remember to Remember (Hummingbird) (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) A Magazine Called Sunset (The Unified Theory of Everything Version) The Good Part (Here Comes Everybody Version) Not for the Season (Laminated Cat) (Here Comes Everybody Version) Cars Can’t Escape (Here Comes Everybody Version)
Nonesuch Records releases the first recordings of Steve Reich’s Runner (2016) and Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (2018), performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted by Susanna Mälkki, available digitally and on CD on September 30, 2022; a vinyl LP version will be released on December 2. The New York Times calls Runner “a calmly luminous orchestral piece with the pulsating, propulsive rhythms that animate much of Mr. Reich’s music.” The San Francisco Chronicle says that Music for Ensemble and Orchestra “is a beautiful and dramatically charged masterpiece, but its impact goes even further than that.” The album track Runner: I. Sixteenths can be heard here.
Sam Amidon is the guest on the latest episode of the Suzie Explores podcast hosted by violinist Suzie Collier. The two discuss approaching one's work with a beginner's mind, being open to new influences, and catching the creative spark when it hits. Amidon also talks about his lifelong connection to the fiddle and his lifelong friendship with musician and producer Thomas Bartlett. You can hear the conversation here.