Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Gent, België

A Ghost Is Born

In early 2004, keyboardist Leroy Bach left the band, and Mikael Jorgensen replaced him at Wilco’s important keyboards post. A Ghost Is Born, Wilco’s most recent studio album, was released on June 22, 2004, a date that was pushed back after Tweedy entered a rehabilitation facility for his addiction to his migraine painkillers, an event that also caused them to pull out of their headline slot at that year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Shortly after the release of AGIB, the band gained two more members, acclaimed free jazz guitarist Nels Cline, and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, previously a member of John Stirratt’s side project, The Autumn Defense. Hailed by critics, A Ghost Is Born was Wilco’s first album to make the top ten of the US album charts in 2004, opening at #8, and also reached the top 50 of the Australian charts. A Ghost Is Born won Wilco its first ever Grammy Awards in 2005 for Recording Package and Alternative Music Album. It also placed 13th on 2004’s Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.

Sky Blue Sky

On May 8, 2006, Glenn Kotche said that the band was in the writing and demoing stages of creating a new record, and that four or five of those songs had made it in to the band’s recent live sets. The new songs include “On and On and On,” “The Thanks I Get” (later announced to not be on the record), “Walken,” “Impossible Germany,” “What Light,” “Let’s Fight,” “Either Way” “Let’s Not Get Carried Away,” “You Are My Face,” “Patient With Me,” “Sky Blue Sky,” “Glad It’s Over,” “Shake It Off,” and “Side With the Seeds.” Kotche also said that some of the new songs were written on the spot in the studio by the band as a whole, as opposed to Tweedy fleshing out the song and bringing it to the rest of the band.

Following the fall tour, which ended with Nov. 24 and 25 shows in the band’s hometown, Wilco went back into the studio to finish recording its album.

In a June 2006 interview, guitarist Cline revealed that the band would be writing and demoing new songs in August, followed by recording sessions in November. The band’s next album is currently slated for a May 2007 release.[5] On January 17th at a solo performance in Nashville, Tweedy revealed that the new album is titled Sky Blue Sky, and it is currently set for release on May 15, 2007.

In February 2007, Wilco announced the 12-song album’s tentative track listing with the following message on its Web site: “Direct from Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine… here’s the tracklisting, as of now, for Sky Blue Sky … 1. Either Way; 2. You Are My Face; 3. Impossible Germany; 4. Sky Blue Sky; 5. Side with the Seeds; 6. Shake it Off; 7. Please Be Patient With Me; 8. Hate it Here; 9. Leave Me (Like You Found Me); 10. Walken; 11. What Light; 12. On and On and On”

In March 2007, the full album was leaked onto the internet, three months early, following a one-night only stream of the record on the band’s website.