Wilco - A.M.

Wilco: Jeff Tweedy (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, bass); John Stirratt (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, organ, bass); Max Johnston (vocals, banjo, dobro, mandolin, fiddle); Ken Coomer (vocals, drums).
Additional personnel: Brian Henneman (vocals, guitar); Daniel Corrigan (vocals); Lloyd Maines (pedal steel guitar).
Recorded at Easley Recording, Memphis, Tennessee.
When Uncle Tupelo, the band that defined '90s alt-country, split into two camps, Jay Farrar's Son Volt took the relatively arty road while Jeff Tweedy upped the rock & roll grit quotient with Wilco. On Wilco's debut album, the band sounds righteously ragged, charging along behind Tweedy in a manner suggestive of the rootsier moments of the Stones and/or the Replacements. The occasional appearance of acoustic guitar, banjo or a 2/4 beat serves to remind us of Tweedy's roots. Still, A.M. has the sound of a band already well on their way to the gloriously chaotic rock & roll nirvana they would reach on the follow-up BEING THERE.

• Genre: Rock
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 2009-09-29