Friday, March 17, 2006

Wilco crazy on St. Patty's Day

Today is a very special day, dear loved ones. Red Blondehead is taking off to Nashville to catch Wilco's sold-out show at the Ryman. Even though there aren't many new tracks floating around out there, I did some digging in dusty corners of my music collection to come up with some very special promo/B-side/live Wilco tracks for your perusal and enjoyment:

Wilco - The T.B. is Whipping Me
This non-album recording featuring Syd Straw comes from a country music AIDS benefit album. It hasn't been performed live since a 1994 Lounge Ax performance, and that was a loooong time ago, as in pre-A.M. At this point in time, everybody was thinking Jay Farrar would be the one to survive and "make it" after the Uncle Tupelo breakup.

Wilco - Promising
This is one of my favorite non-album Wilco tracks. It appears on the soundtrack for Chelsea Walls, which Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche put together for director Ethan Hawke. The song has been around since 1994, though, and has been performed by Tweedy (solo) as recently as January of this year. It's a soft, pretty folk song. It's nice to come back to after hearing all the bleepy-bloppy, fancy stuff the band's been up to in recent years.

Wilco - When the Roses Bloom Again
Originally thought to be written by Woody Guthrie (the lyrics, only), this song was originally slated to appear on Mermaid Avenue II, the second record put together by Wilco and Billy Bragg that featured archival lyrics released to both bands by Guthrie's daughter Nora. Alas, despite the charm of this folky, haunting shuffle, it was discovered that the lyrics were in fact written by Will Cobb and Gus Edwards, two other popular songwriters from that period. It now appears on both the Chelsea Walls soundtrack and The Oxford American Southern Sampler.

Wilco - I Shall be Released
This cover of Bob Dylan's original has been performed by many, many bands, most notably the object of my ongoing obsession--The Band. This version is a live track performed by Wilco on my birthday last year, the 6.28.05 show in Quebec.

Toodles, y'all. Kiss somebody Irish, and put on something green, lest you get pinched!

3 Comments:

Blogger largehearted boy said...

Make that 4 regular readers, I just found your site today through AL.com's list of Alabama blogs. We're headed up to the Wilco show now, running a bit late, shows at the Ryman are usually fun...

8:13 PM  
Blogger Leah said...

awesome--glad to have you. :)

we'll have to write about the show a bit in a few, maybe tonight.

11:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great blog-great musical tastes..

11:51 PM  

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