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May 10, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Jamie Kelter Davis

Wilco are releasing a new album, Cruel Country, on May 27 via the band’s own dBpm label. Now they have shared the album’s second single, “Tired of Taking It Out on You,” via a video, and announced some new North American tour dates for August, September, and October. Check out the video, which was shot at the band’s The Loft studio, and tour dates below.

Frontman Jeff Tweedy had this to say about the new song in a press release: “I’ve realized over the years that a lot of the songs I’ve written have worked as reminders to myself to pay attention to various things. Sometimes I think I’ve figured out how the world works in some small way, and I worry I’ll forget it if I don’t sing it back to myself occasionally. This song, I believe, is going to come in handy for just that purpose. I’m a person who needs to stay alert to how I’m treating others when I’m not feeling my best. And now that I mention it, when I look around, it seems like a lot of us have been taking things out on each other when we would be better served striving for understanding and empathy. I’m just trying to be honest with myself, and I guess I’m hoping if this song can help me focus on that, maybe someone else could find it useful in the same way.”

Previously Wilco shared Cruel Country’s first single, “Falling Apart (Right Now),” via a video for the new song. The album is due out the same weekend as the band’s Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, MA and they will perform the album at the festival.

As its title suggests, Cruel Country embraces the band’s Americana side. “There have been elements of Country music in everything we’ve ever done,” said Tweedy in a previous press release. “We’ve never been particularly comfortable with accepting that definition, the idea that I was making Country music. But now, having been around the block a few times, we’re finding it exhilarating to free ourselves within the form, and embrace the simple limitation of calling the music we’re making Country.”

Wilco—Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Mikael Jorgensen, Pat Sansone, and Nels Cline—recorded almost everything on the album live in the studio together, with minimal overdubs, recording at the band’s own The Loft recording studio in Chicago. “It’s a style of recording that forces a band to surrender control and learn to trust each other, along with each others’ imperfections, musical and otherwise,” said Tweedy. “But when it’s working the way it’s supposed to, it feels like gathering around some wild collective instrument, one that requires six sets of hands to play.”

Cruel Country is a concept album of sorts, one that loosely chronicles the history of the United States. “It isn’t always direct and easy to spot, but there are flashes of clarity,” Tweedy explained. “It’s all mixed up and mixed in, the way my personal feelings about America are often woven with all of our deep collective myths. Simply put, people come and problems emerge. Worlds collide. It’s beautiful. And cruel.”

Tweedy added: “The specifics of an American identity begin to blur for me as the record moves toward the light and opens itself up to more cosmic solutions—coping with fear, without belonging to any nation or group other than humanity itself.”

Cruel Country isn’t just about history, but also comments on the troubled times we’re currently living in. “More than any other genre, Country music, to me, a white kid from middle-class middle America, has always been the ideal place to comment on what most troubles my mind—which for more than a little while now has been the country where I was born, these United States,” said Tweedy. “And because it is the country I love, and because it’s Country music that I love, I feel a responsibility to investigate their mirrored problematic natures. I believe it’s important to challenge our affections for things that are flawed.

“Country music is simply designed to aim squarely at the low-hanging fruit of the truth. If someone can sing it, and it’s given a voice… well, then it becomes very hard not to see. We’re looking at it. It’s a cruel country, and it’s also beautiful. Love it or leave it. Or if you can’t love it, maybe you’ve already left.”

Wilco also recently announced a massive 20th anniversary reissue of their 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that features a whopping 82 previously unreleased tracks, including a 2002 live recording of “Reservations,” which they shared when announcing the reissue. They also performed the album’s “Poor Places” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The reissue is due out September 16 via Nonesuch.

The band’s annual Solid Sound Festival will take place this month, featuring Japanese Breakfast, Sylvan Esso, Hand Habits, Iceage, and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, among many others. Their last studio album, Ode to Joy, came out in 2019 via dBpm. Read our interview with the band where they discuss the album here.

Read our recent list ranking the 15 best Wilco songs.

Solid Sound Festival Livestream Schedule and Details:

Friday, May 27: Wilco — Performing Cruel Country
Saturday, May 28: Wilco
Sunday, May 29: Jeff Tweedy & Friends

Wilco Tour Dates:

Fri. May 27 - Sun. May 29 - North Adams, MA @ Solid Sound Festival
Sat. Jun. 11 - Oslo, NE @ Loaded Festival
Mon. Jun. 13 - Copenhagen, DK @ Amager Bio
Tue. Jun 14 - Koln, DE @ E-Werk
Thu. Jun 16 - Frankfurt, DE @ Alte Oper
Fri. Jun. 17 - Zeebrugge, BE @ Zeebrugge Beach Festival
Sat. Jun. 18 - Kent, UK @ Black Deer Festival
Mon. Jun. 20 - San Sebastian, ES @ Auditorio del Centro Kursaal
Tue. Jun 21 - Zaragoza, ES @ Parque Grande Jose Antonio Labordeta
Wed. Jun. 22 - Barcelona, ES @ Poble Espanyol
Fri. Jun. 24 - Valencia, ES @ Auditorio Casa de la Cultura de Burjassot
Sat. Jun. 25 - Murcia, ES @ Plaza De Toros Murcia
Mon. Jun. 27 - Madrid, ES @ Noches Del Botanico
Tue. Jun. 28 - Madrid, ES @ Noches Del Botanico
Fri. Jul. 1 - Beuningen, NL @ Down The Rabbit Hole Festival
Fri. Aug. 12 - Cedar Rapids, IA - Paramount Theatre
Sat. Aug. 13 - Bellevue, NE @ Outlandia Festival
Sun. Aug. 14 - Indianapolis, IN @ TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
Tue. Aug. 16 - Newport, KY @ PromoWest Pavilion Outdoor at OVATION
Wed. Aug. 17 - Interlochen, MI @ Interlochen Center for the Arts/Kresge Auditorium
Thu. Aug. 18 - Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
Sat. Aug. 20 - Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
Sun. Aug. 21 - Cooperstown, NY @ Brewery Ommegang
Tue. Aug. 23 - Lafayette, NY @ Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards
Wed. Aug. 24 - Burlington, VT @ The Green at Shelburne Museum
Thu. Aug. 25 - Gilford, NH @ Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
Sat. Aug. 27 - New Haven, CT @ Westville Music Bowl
Mon. Aug. 28 - Martha’s Vineyard, MA @ Beach Road Weekend
Fri. Sept. 9 - Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
Sun. Sept. 11 - Fargo, ND @ Fargo Brewing Company Outdoors
Mon. Sept. 12 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science
Wed. Sept. 14 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Thu. Sept. 15 - Santa Fe, NM @ Santa Fe Opera
Sat. Sept. 17 - San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
Tue. Sept. 20 - Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Wed. Sept. 21 - Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Fri. Sept. 23 - Calgary, AB @ Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
Sat. Sept. 24 - Bozeman, MT @ The ELM
Sun. Oct. 2 - Memphis, TN @ Mempho Fest
Tue. Oct. 4 - New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre
Wed. Oct. 5 - New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre
Fri. Oct. 7 - Columbia, MO @ Roots N Blues Festival

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