Alternative-Country（另类乡村乐）原本是Jeff Tweedy作为”另类乡村/朋克乐队”Uncle Tupelo主脑人物时灵光乍现的绝妙产物。而当Uncle Tupelo主音Jay Farrar另组Son Volt之后，Jeff Tweedy也带领Uncle Tupelo的残余分子推出了自己的乐队Wilco。Wilco首先发表的A.M.是Jeff Tweedy早期的作品堆砌，满篇悦耳的乡村旋律比Uncle Tupelo更加守旧。直到第二个专辑——双张的Being There出现，人们才从中看到急转直上的革新力量。这张专辑打破了人们事先的听觉期待，融入大量的迷幻色调，power-pop和R&B， soul元素，以致于相当程度的管弦乐格调。Being There的创新态度受到媒体追捧，当即被评为一些杂志的年度Top 10。
1998 年，Wilco与另类民谣歌手Billy Bragg合作了专辑Mermaid Avenue（美人鱼大街）, 专辑收录了民谣前辈Woody Guthrie的未发表作品。第二年，Wilco发表了他们的第三张专辑——倍受好评的Summer Teeth，专辑进一步偏离了固有的另类乡村乐轨迹，更多华丽的弦乐涌入，而阳光般流畅的旋律节拍掩饰不住歌词表现的阴暗情调，除了行吟歌手的敏感情怀外，Jeff Tweedy更达到了民谣音乐的知性高度。可惜这张唱片仍然销量平平。乐队因此和东家华纳从属的Reprise唱片的关系搞得比较僵。2000年， Wilco和Billy Bragg合作的Mermaid Avenue第二辑发表，收录的还是Woody Guthrie的未发表作品。
2002 年的第四张专辑’Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’是Jeff Tweedy继续前行中的奇妙产物。专辑制作过程颇为不顺，吉他手Jay Bennett离队，Wilco跟华纳唱片的关系也最终崩溃：由于不愿意按照公司要求增加专辑中的商业元素，Wilco决定离开华纳Reprise唱片，据说是花了5万英镑从华纳(Reprise)手中买回了录制好的母带。专辑中的曲目因此在去年底提前被乐队放在了自己的主页上面并被广泛传播，震惊了整个美国唱片界。最终专辑’Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’由Nonesuch唱片公司于今年上半年在欧美陆续正式发布(此公司同样从属于”美国在线－华纳”)。令人欣喜的是，这只被 Reprise抛弃的乐队以这张新专辑赢得了好评如潮。专辑发布工作完成后，乐队主音Tweedy还为Ethan Hawke的电影Chelsea Walls制作了电影配乐。
乐队成员：
吉他：Jay Bennett
贝司：John Stirratt
鼓手：Ken Coomer（99年第三张专辑Summer Teeth发布后离开，由Glenn Kotche接任）
曼陀林，班卓，小提琴，lap steel吉他：Max Johnston（96年专辑Being There发表后离队，由吉他手Bob Egan取代）
Wilco rose from the ashes of the seminal roots rockers Uncle Tupelo, who disbanded in 1994. While Jay Farrar, one of the groups two singer/songwriters, went on to form the band Son Volt, his ex-partner Jeff Tweedy established Wilco along with the remaining members of Tupelos final incarnation, which included drummer Ken Coomer as well as part-time bandmates John Stirratt (bass) and Max Johnston (mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and lap steel). Guitarist Jay Bennett rounded out the group, which in 1995 issued their debut album, A.M., a collection of spry country-rock tunes that followed the course established in Tweedys earlier work. Wilcos sophomore effort, 1996s two-disc set Being There, marked a radical transformation in the groups sound; while remaining steeped in the style that earned Tweedy his reputation, the songs took unexpected detours into psychedelia, power pop, and soul, complete with orchestral touches and R&B horn flourishes. Shortly after the release of Being There, which most critics judged to be among the years best releases, Johnston left the group to play with his sister, singer Michelle Shocked, and was replaced by guitarist Bob Egan of the band Freakwater. At the same time, while remaining full-time members of Wilco, Stirratt, Bennett, and Coomer also began performing together in the pop side project Courtesy Move. In 1998, Wilco collaborated with singer/songwriter Billy Bragg on Mermaid Avenue, a collection of performances based on unreleased material originally written by Woody Guthrie.
Their stunningly lush third album, Summerteeth, followed in 1999 and met with critical acclaim but only average sales, initiating tensions with their label, Warner Bros. 2000 saw the release of Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2, which featured more selections from the bands collaborations with Bragg on Woody Guthries unfinished songs. Following this release, longtime drummer Ken Coomer decided to amicably leave the band and was replaced by the Chicago-based Glenn Kotche. The band then focused on recording their fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which ultimately led to the departure of guitarist Jay Bennett, and further tensions with their label. Unwilling to change the album to make it more commercially viable, Wilco bought the finished studio tapes from Warner/Reprise for a reported $50,000 and left the label altogether. Leaked tracks from the album surfaced on the Internet in late 2001, and the stripped-down lineup of Tweedy, Kotche, Stirratt, and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach embarked on a small tour to support — or drum up support for — their unreleased album. Nonesuch Records picked up the album and the official release came out in early 2002 to widespread critical acclaim. Meanwhile, an independent film documenting the drama surrounding the album entitled I Am Trying to Break Your Heart followed in the fall of 2002. During the down time after the album was recorded, Tweedy composed and recorded the film score to the Ethan Hawke film Chelsea Walls, which ended up being released around the same time as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Wilco toured extensively following the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and in 2003 began work on their next album, A Ghost Is Born. While sessions went smoothly compared to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, after the album was finished Leroy Bach left the band in a split that was described as mutual and amicable; guitarist Nels Cline, keyboardist Mike Jorgensen, and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone joined Wilco for their subsequent tour. Shortly before the albums release, Tweedy surprised many fans by announcing he had entered a drug rehabilitation facility to treat a dependency on painkillers, prescribed to treat a long history of migraine headaches aggravated by panic disorder. Tweedy discussed his health problems in depth, along with the often tangled history of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo, in Wilco: Learning How to Die, a biography of the group written by rock journalist Greg Kot, published to coincide with A Ghost Is Borns release in the spring of 2004. The following year, the group released Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, a 23-track collection recorded in the Windy Citys Vic Theatre, an album that was later deemed one of the Top 20 best live albums by Q Magazine. In 2007 Wilcos sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, hit shelves.
