At the center of every album is a musical thesis, but this one doesn’t present itself easily. “Sky Blue Sky” is where Wilco became Wilco. With this album, they cemented their sound. They planted a flag in the ground and made their stance. While Wilco has always been a mixture of country and rock, the songs presented here come across as folk with an edge. Blending the three together has always been the balance this band has had to walk. Here, they do it brilliantly. They achieve it by presenting a quiet sound (most of the time) that forces you to listen. You must pay attention to the lyrics and the arrangement. You must pay attention to what is influencing the production. When you do, you are presented with the thesis; rock music can be a lot of things. It can be influenced by rhythm & blues, folk, soul, and jazz. Rock, more than any other genre, is an amalgamation. Wilco stirs the mixture and the pot better than most.
Be good to each other,
-Nathan