“I was knocked out by his playing and kept up with him over the years,” Tweedy recounts, “and when [guitarist and keyboardist] Jay [Bennett] left, I told Nels I’d really like him to be in the band.” At first Cline was skeptical, because Tweedy himself had recently evolved from a competent twanger into a raging, inventive guitar wrecker. “I gave him a copy of [Wilco’s 2004] A Ghost Is Born and Nels said, ‘What would I do? You’re already kicking ass.’ I told him not to worry about it.”
As it turns out, what Cline does is complete a great American guitar partnership the likes of which hasn’t been heard for 30 years: since Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd chaired the board of musical directors of Television. The difference is that Tweedy is a visionary songwriter and arranger who came out of his period of anger, estrangement, and drug abuse — the stuff that fed his Foxtrot flames — with his abilities not just intact but improved. The on-the-fly magic of Cline and Tweedy made 2005’s live Kicking Television (Nonesuch) — is that title a coincidence? — a masterpiece of melodic poise balanced with sonic chaos. And they’re still making unforgettable sounds with their instruments on Sky Blue Sky. The disc has the classic-rock heft of the Band’s Music from Big Pink and Fleetwood Mac’s Then Play On. Its dozen songs are illuminated by an airy melodic architecture unprecedented in Wilco’s catalogue, even as it embraces compositional techniques like minimalism (“On and On and On”) and mood-altering dissonance (“Side with the Seeds”). There’s still some of the Byrds’ melodic phrasing, especially in Tweedy’s elaborately arranged vocal lines, which are tailored for maximum sweetness and gentility. But the group have put an even wider setting on their wayback machine, copping a wicked guitar quote from Peter Green in “You Are My Face” and digging into Dylan world with “What Light,” a tune that would fit the sequence of Highway 61 Revisited.
“We spent a lot of time paying very close attention to making things melodically interesting,” Tweedy explains, “and we collectively were aspiring to make something lovely and beautiful. Nels played a big role. He’s not only a great musician but he’s a very supportive and generous person, and his presence has given everyone more confidence.” That shows in “Impossible Germany,” where Tweedy’s sweet, conversational singing and the twined, rippling guitar discourse flow over a breezy groove in a manner that’s both relaxed and intense.
“In a way, this was the easiest album to make, because we all played together in the studio as an ensemble. We had to take responsibility for each other. When you’re all playing together like that, you can’t mess up, because there’s no going back and replacing your parts with an overdub, and you can’t play too loud and really have to pay attention to each other for the songs to come out right.”
So maybe courtesy and new-found camaraderie feed Sky Blue Sky’s glowing energy as much as Tweedy’s victory over his demons and the group’s current guitar chemistry. When it’s all boiled down to a listening experience, however, Wilco have simply become a better band by letting their music do the talking.
