Wilco Rediscovers Its Original DNA on Warm, Sprawling ‘Cruel Country’: Album Review
variety.comAlex Swhear “I love my country like a little boy,” Jeff Tweedy sings on “Cruel Country,” the title track of Wilco’s twelfth studio album. “I love my country, stupid and cruel.” That sentiment rears its head throughout “Cruel Country,” a sprawling, cozy double-LP.
Tweedy channels his admiration for America’s promise into warm, welcoming vistas deeply reverent of traditional folk and country music.
But Tweedy spikes these slices of Americana with pointed reminders of the nation’s complicated history and ongoing injustices; for him, the beauty and the rot are impossible to disentangle.According to Tweedy, “Country” adheres to a loose conceptual thread about America’s evolution, though you have to squint to trace it.
But the thematic anchors are voiced with crisp clarity thanks to the continued sharpness of Tweedy’s writing. He has plenty of space to maneuver; at 21 songs and 77 minutes, this is Wilco’s longest album (nudging past “Being There” by 17 seconds). “Country” doesn’t harbor the grand ambitions of many recent double albums; it isn’t a versatile exploration of styles like Big Thief’s “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You,” nor is it a dense conceptual statement like Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr.
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