From the ACL Taping Program on September 15, 2007:
Best known for their influential and ever-changing music, Wilco has become one of the most revered bands in American rock today. After two years, Wilco returns to the AUSTIN CITY LIMITS stage for their third showcase performance, bringing with them the new sound from their most recent album Sky Blue Sky.
After their Grammy-winning album A Ghost Is Born, the band took their music in a different direction. From the staunch rocking jams and experimentation of previous albums, Tweedy took Sky Blue Sky to a mellow, simpler level. “I didn’t really intend for it to be a mellow or quiet record,” said Tweedy. “The ideas I had were much more about keeping things simple and direct, and feeling like the world was complex enough right now.”
Despite the different sound, Wilco stayed true to their changeable, carefree, thought out reputation. The Los Angeles Times calls Sky Blue Sky “the most musically direct and down to earth of the band's six-album career” and Spin said it is "a near-perfect album by a band that seems, finally, to have found their identity.”
“In a lot of ways, Sky Blue Sky is our first record,” said Tweedy. “This line-up of the band is probably the closest to ideal I’ve ever been lucky enough to experience.” And the band’s closeness comes through in the music. The Hartford Courant wrote "Sky Blue Sky feels more collaborative than the past few Wilco records. The dozen tunes here reflect the more organic sound of a band playing in a room, with musicians turning ideas into grooves, which in turn become songs.”
