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To fully do justice to the tumultuous career of alt-country pioneers Wilco, you’d need to write a thesis. Whole rainforest have been cut down to feed the reams of news and magazine print that have tried to deconstruct this most beguiling and fascinating of bands, led by their preternaturally talented, and notoriously prickly frontman Jeff Tweedy. It would not be too far off the mark to suggest that the Chicago-based band have, in the past 13 years, produced some of the most important, surprising and continually excellent records to come out of the American rock scene.

Formed from the ashes of country band Uncle Tupelo, Wilco released two critically acclaimed, but pretty straight down the line albums, before begin to interweave more and more experimental ideas - taking in elements of electronica, sonic soundscapes and even krautrock, to the horror of country purists and the delight of critics. However, internal problems have never been too far from bubbling to the surface. The band almost tore themselves apart during the recording of their masterpiece, 2002’s ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’, and touring of its follow-up, the Grammy-winning ‘A Ghost is Born’ in 2004, had to be aborted so Tweedy could go into rehab to beat an addiction to prescription painkillers. 

But if the weight of past troubles hangs heavy over the band with the imminent release of their sixth album, ‘Sky Blue Sky’, it doesn’t appear to be bothering bassist and long-time Tweedy collaborator John Stirrant, whose laconic voice - just this side of surfer-dude - crackles from a Chicago recording studio on the eve of the band’s Australian tour. “You know, I really enjoyed the sessions we had on ‘Sky Blue Sky’,” he says. “This record was the easiest, and the most productive yet. It’s really the case now that none of us can wait to get out on the road and start playing the songs.”

It’s an attitude that permeates the new album, their most relaxed and untroubled recording for some time. The first thing you notice about ‘Sky Blue Sky’ is the warmth, and dare we say it, happiness that permeates every track. Gone is the glacial production of ‘YHF’, and the lovelorn, roughshod beauty of ‘A Ghost Is Born’, replaced by the kind of wide-eyed beauty that only men who’d been through and hell and back and lived to tell the tale could produce. “Jeff is really the leader of the group, so I guess the album reflects what’s going on with him at the moment. It’s definitely much more of a roots record this time around. We’ve been listening to more traditional rock records, things like John Martin and Neil Young, and I think that’s been a big influence on us.”

Yet Stirratt doesn’t feel that the record is a deliberate move away from the experimentation that infused both their lauded last two records to reconnect with their country roots. “It wasn’t something we really thought about. ‘Sky Blue Sky’ was a much more organic album than we’ve done for a while, there were a lot of one-take songs, where we’d just come in and play through. It really felt like a natural progression from where we were.” Tweedy has previously said that this incarnation of the group is the best yet, both live and in the studio, and Stirratt seems to concur: “The group at the moment is full of really talented, creative people. It’s been a joy to work with them.”

The band’s nadir was the torturous recording of ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’, which was captured in all its agony by a documentary film crew. The finished film, ‘I Am Trying to Break Your Heart’ shows the band come close to meltdown, with egos spiraling out of control, the sacking of two members, and the album being turned down by their label, who the band then split with. One of the overriding moments sees Jeff Tweedy in a screaming match with soon-to-be- sacked guitarist Jay Bennett, and then sprinting to the toilet to vomit, ostensibly because of his ongoing migraines. It’s a visceral, astonishing piece of work that helped promote the album after it was rejected by their record company, Warners, for being too leftfield. 

John, who often appears to be the calm centre of the storm in the film is magnanimous about the documentary, which shows both the best and the worst of the band. “I guess ‘I Am Trying to Break Your Heart’ was a cathartic experience for all of us. There was a huge amount of story behind that record, and the process that we went through. While I hate seeing myself on film, it certainly brought a lot of people to the band, and helped to bring the record to people who wouldn’t have necessarily have heard us. The film does have a certain beauty to it, but I’d never do something like it again.”  

After the album was rejected, Wilco took the then-unusual step of streaming it in its entirety on their website, which led to it quickly being picked up by college radio stations across the country. Coupled with Wilco actively encouraging their fans to record and trade in copies of their live shows, it became an underground phenomenon, going on to sell 500,000 copies. It’s a trick the repeated with its two follow-ups, and have even given away the gorgeous single ‘What Light’ as a free download from ‘Sky Blue Sky’. “We really embraced new technology to get the word out on YHF,” says John. “It really helped us out, and it’s great our fans were so supportive during the difficult times. A whole community built up around it, and what with the new advances in recording technology these days, I’d like to see it continue.”

The band’s shows, once immortalised in the all-but-peerless live album ‘Kicking Television’, will be speeding towards All Tomorrow’s Parties this year, before two nights at Shepherd’s Bush Empire and then Latitude in the summer. “Ironically, it’s much easier to play those difficult tracks now we’re a six piece,” John says of the band’s new, expanded line-up. “Touring YHF with just four people was really difficult, we were struggling to recreate all the production live. Now we’re touring a much more straightforward set, we can recreate all the noises from the previous records. So I guess we’ll just have to chuck in some oldies to experiment!”

It’ll be interesting to see how the fans will react to this trip back to the band’s more traditional roots. ‘Sky Blue Sky’ is one of the warmest, most honest and beautiful albums you will hear this year, the mark of a band on the up, both professionally and personally. As John begins packing his suitcase for the Australian leg of their tour (“I’m going to have to buy some shorts!” he laughs), Wilco finally seem to have put their troubles behind them, and are enjoying themselves all over again.