This week, “Falling Apart (Right Now)” by Wilco is Jayson’s DJ Pick! This track is the first single from Wilco’s forthcoming album, Cruel Country. Cruel Country, a substantial two-disc exploratory work, arrives the same weekend at the band’s beloved Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, MA, where the band will perform the album for the first time. Since the beginning of Wilco, there have been elements of country music in their works. However – they are just now embracing that title. Jeff Tweedy elaborates, “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 uses a unique style of recording for this album. Almost everything is recorded completely live, with only a few overdubs. In addition to the outside-the-box recording method, this album includes a history lesson! Across the record, there’s a loose conceptual narrative on the history of the United States. “It isn’t always direct and easy to spot, but there are flashes of clarity,” says Tweedy. “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.”
Cruel Country is set to release on May 27th via dBpm Records. You can watch the band perform “Falling Apart (Right Now)” here:
Tune into 100.1 FM or lightning100.com to hear “Falling Apart (Right Now)” by Wilco as Jayson’s DJ Pick of the Week. Be sure to let us know your thoughts! Tweet at us with #L100DJPicks and share your take on the track.
