Tweedy-led Wilco road warriors

Wilco

Just call them Wilco (The Perpetual Motion Machine).

Looking at their tour schedule, it sometimes seems like Jeff Tweedy and his Chicago alt-roots outfit are always on the road � even to them.

�It�s funny you should mention that,� says 42-year-old bassist John Stirratt from his Windy City home. �It felt that way to me too, so I just looked at the numbers from last year because I was curious.

�Truth is, it�s been rather consistent. Last year it was something like 120 days on the road, with something like 80 or 90 gigs. Usually it�s about 60 shows in 100 days. So it�s not really a lot more � but it sure feels like it with age. To be quite honest, I wish we had the ability to sit back and not tour in the summertime, since we all have families. But you can�t ignore markets for that long ... especially after eight years of essentially not being paid for records. We employ a lot of people now. It�s a machine, you know. That�s just the reality of it.�

Fortunately, the sextet � whose latest Canadian swing crosses the country from west to east over the next few weeks � make a point of altering that reality just enough to stave off monotony. Unlike bands whose live set begins and ends with their latest album and greatest hits, Wilco usually take a more ambitious approach.

Their 2008 tour was an all-request affair, with the group taking submissions via their website and crafting unique set lists for each market. At the time of our interview, Stirratt said the group were toying with the idea of staging An Evening With Wilco, with the band playing two lengthy sets without an opening act.

Since then, it seems saner heads have prevailed: Kindred spirits Califone are opening on the western dates of Wilco�s fittingly dubbed Tundra Tour, while Toronto singer-guitarist Bahamas will be along for most of the eastern shows.

Still, there�s little danger that Wilco � which also includes guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen and drummer Glenn Kotche � will be running on autopilot, says Stirratt.

�Having the catalog we have now pretty much guarantees a different show every time.�

That catalog includes seven studio albums, one live disc and three full-length collaborations with the likes of Billy Bragg and The Minus 5, giving the band a repertoire of much more than 100 songs. The latest dozen or so come from last year�s eponymously titled Wilco (The Album), which was nominated for best Americana album at the Grammys.

Even there, Wilco are a moving target. In the late �90s, they were nominated in the contemporary folk category for their Woody Guthrie tribute Mermaid Avenue. in 2005, they won the alternative album trophy for A Ghost is Born. In 2008, their disc Sky Blue Sky went up against Daughtry, John Fogerty, Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters in the rock-album category. This year, they faced off against Bob Dylan, Wille Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel, Lucinda Williams and Levon Helm, who ultimately took the prize.

�We�re definitely the odd man out in that category,� Stirratt says, laughing. �I guess we�re more of an alternative band than anything else, since that�s the only one we�ve won. And this album doesn�t feel like an Americana album to me. Still, it�s rewarding to be nominated. It�s cool to be able to fit into different genres. And I have to say, being mentioned in any sort of relation to Bob Dylan is a high point.�

Another name that Wilco has been associated with lately: Neil Young. The band recently took part in a star-studded L.A. tribute to the Canadian folk-rock legend, performing a magnificent version of the trippy Buffalo Springfield shapeshifter Broken Arrow. The tune has since found its way into the band�s set lists, reinforcing something Stirratt said shortly before the event: �Had he not picked up a guitar and made music, we would not be around.�

Yeah, but then they wouldn�t have to spend a third of their lives on the road.

Wilco�s Tundra Tour Dates