Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to The Music of America's Best Band

by Daniel Cook Johnson

Part reference manual, part collector’s guide, part critical overview, Wilcopedia is an insightful album-by-album, song-by-song guide to the music of the most important American rock band of the twenty-first century. It offers a thorough appraisal of the entire Wilco canon, with detailed insights into every album and song the band have released, as well as side projects, collaborations, covers, and more. Since their formation in 1994, Wilco have become one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of modern times. While previous books have told their story in a biographical sense, Wilcopedia zeroes in on the music, tracing the evolution of the band’s material from the studio to the concert stage, from the formative Uncle Tupelo recordings through the mold-breaking Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to latter-day gems Star Wars and Schmilco and beyond.
Throughout their twenty-five-year career, Wilco’s founder and primary songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, has led his band through various shifts in line-up and genre that have kept fans on their toes and made their music difficult to categorize. While they are largely considered an Americana act, their music has touched on hard rock, electronica, pop, soul, punk, folk, and more—and Wilcopedia covers it all.

Genres: Music

320 pages, Paperback

Published September 17, 2019

Reviews

[Tommy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide walks the reader through the vast entirety of Wilco's canon, from Jeff Tweedy's days with Uncle Tupelo, through Wilco's debut ("A.M.") up to 2016's "Schmilco", including three volumes of the "Mermaid Avenue" sessions with Billy Bragg, which combined original music with unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics. Johnson does a fine job pulling together sources to reveal some of the studio dynamics, song origins, and audience receptions to various tracks.

For me, books like this are a bit of a crap shoot, as many artists play their cards close to their vests with the meanings behind certain songs, why they favor some songs over others, and their source material for inspiration. And it's always risky when an author chooses to attempt to decipher the meaning of abstract songs (see the many attempts to unravel the works of Dylan, Costello, Radiohead, and other lyricists who seek a certain enigmatic cubism to their songs). Johnson does a fine job going to the source, getting insights from Tweedy and other band members where possible, via press the band did for various releases and shows. He also lets some of music's more astute critics offer their thoughts around songs.

You quickly realize how polarizing Wilco's career has been, and how - for a band embraced lovingly for the 'Dad Rock' and alt-country genres they practically created - they always have detractors who either think they need to continue exploring sonic textures, as they did with "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and "A Ghost is Born", when they were dubbed America's Radiohead. Others yearn for them to get back to their more alt-country roots, as defined on "Being There" and deftly straddled with power-pop on "Summerteeth". Thankfully, they've mostly made the music they want to make, and their fan base has benefitted from, both, their explorations and their awareness of the value of returning to their core sound.

This book is a great guide for fans of the band who want to know more about the recording sessions, certain key songs and lyrics, and how the songs have fit into their live performances over the years. Each chapter also features recorded songs that didn't make a particular album but surfaced elsewhere, live recordings, and there's a chapter focused on cover songs they've recorded and/or performed.

I imagine I will go back through this book with my Wilco collection so I can follow along with each album and track, reacquainting myself with some songs that have fallen off my radar and learning more about songs that snuck past me. If you're a Wilco fan, Wilcopedia is a fine way to get to know one of America's most acclaimed and beloved bands.

[Kris Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re a Wilco fan, you will love having a WilcoPedia on your bookshelf or coffee table or next to the turntable! I came to Wilco relatively late in the band’s career, so it’s great to have early years of interviews, releases, appearances collected all in one place. Cook Johnson gathers a fair balance of album reviews from critics as well as the perspective of a fan without going overboard. I especially loved how he managed to include the classic Jeff live repartee with his audiences. I’ll be curious to watch this space to see if any other Wilco fans on Goodreads will indicate any significant omissions. It’s fun to note as you read the shows you were at that are mentioned. I did think final songs at the 2011 Solid Sound with Levon Helm shortly before he died was of note. Though technically not their own set, Wilco joining Helm onstage to sing I Shall Be Released and The Weight with the man himself on drums was historic for sure and at least foot notable in the covers section!

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is more for the Wilco completists among us as it details the recording and playing of the songs more than giving out biographical details. For me, it is always fun to read about my favourite albums and dip back in with added info or insight.

The way it is sectioned made it easy for me to just pick up every once in a while and dip back into things. That gave me time to listen to the records when I was away from the book too.

Initially the 50-odd pages on the covers Wilco have played over the years seemed daunting, but it proved to be very interesting and added some great touring stories and stories relating to artists that have influence Tweedy and over the years. The film section also dispelled some myths about "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", which I haven't watched in some time.

As I said this one is more for the ardent Wilco fan and if you're not as hard-core as myself I'd suggest picking up Tweedy's memoir instead for the skinny on Wilco.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been working on this one off and on for awhile. It's no secret that Wilco is at or very near the top of my list of all-time favorite bands. This encyclopedia, pilfered from the bookshelf of my oldest, was the equivalent of going back to my younger glory days, post-high school, pre-marriage, minus the sports, but including lots and lots and lots of great Wilco/Tweedy solo shows in and around the midwest. I was reminded of so many great songs that I'd forgotten about (Johnson is VERY thorough with outtakes and b-sides) that I went back into areas of the Wilco canon that I'd not listened to in years. It holds up so well, nearly everything. Part of this leaned a little too heavy on the fanboy side, but I can't complain at all. I would have written it the same way.

[Jay Gabler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good guide for fans like me: people who know a lot of Wilco's music and have given plenty of spins to albums like A.M., Summerteeth, and the epochal Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, yet haven't quite kept up with all of the band's more recent albums, collaborations, and lineup changes. I reviewed Wilcopedia for The Current.

[James Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a huge Wilco fan. I've seen them in concert twice, but both times were at festivals and they weren't my main attractions. That said, I've kept up and listened to most of their albums more than once. In any event, I enjoy these types of books that take a deep dive into individual tracks and detail influences and collaborations. If nothing else, Johnson's book pointed me towards more music to listen too. And isn't that the point?

[Daniel Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author offers commentary about the entire Wilco canon, including all of their studio albums, singles, covers and TV or soundtrack appearances.