by Steven Booth

Created on: June 28, 2009

Jeff Tweedy is a restless soul. He didn't want to be second fiddle to Jay Farrar, so that helped lead the late and lamented Uncle Tupelo to its demise. He didn't want to be lumped in with the No Depression scene he helped create, so he made music that aside from his molasses-like vocals bears little resemblance to the raw country rock he was known for. His restlessness has led him to be insecure about his band's and his music's direction. It has also led to a revolving door of band members, most notably a very public split with Jay Bennett, his creative foil in the band through Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It has also led him to create, with the help of his band, some of the most interesting and thought provoking American music of the twenty-first century. Whether they're doing the mournful country of I Thought I Held You, the noisy crescendos of Misunderstood or the taut jam band rock of Impossible Germany they keep the fan and critic guessing, and in their own way have turned this restlessness into creative, if not commercial gold.

The first time I caught Witco was at A.M. After the messy breakup of Tupelo, Tweedy wanted to prove to the world that he wasn't just a pretty face, so to speak. It had spare three minute songs that had the rawness of a garage band, but also the love of country music. The spare I Must Be High and the raucous Casino Queen were offset by the wistful Pick Up The Change and the shuffling That's Not the Issue. It was the perfect storm for alt-country. Gone was the sometimes excessive moodiness of Jay Farrar-style Tupelo, but with still plenty of deep emotion. Tweedy could write songs that had feeling and meaning, but kept them spare and to the point. It wasn't the art of a Highway 61 Revisited, but it never was intended to be.

They threw me for a loop on Being There. It began with the sonic-youth style wham of Misunderstood, where they fit a ballad into fits of noise-rock. It than reassures to No Depression fan in all of us with the quiet Far Far Away and then proceeds to go all over the place. Don't Forget the Flowers could be a lost Grateful Dead stomp, while Hotel Arizona has a strange Beatles taste to it. Red Eyed and Blue sounds like something the Replacements would've done. They mix and match the styles, and for the most part they worked and sounded authentic. What threw me off was when I heard Misunderstood it didn't sound like the Witco I knew and loved. The record grew on me, and I admired Tweedy and Wilco's throw it up against

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