Photo by Peter Crosby
Today, beloved rock band Wilco announced their latest and 12th album Cruel Country will be released on two-disc LP and CD formats on Jan. 20, 2023, via dBpm. In celebration of the announcement that the 21-track, 80-minute dive into Americana will receive a physical release, the band shared a new video for Cruel Country’s “A Lifetime to Find.”
Cruel Country is made up almost entirely of live takes, with just a handful of overdubs, and is, by Tweedy’s own distinction, the band’s first Country music album. The LP was tracked with “everyone” in the room at The Loft in Chicago. “It’s a style of recording that forces a band to surrender control and learn to trust each other, along with each others’ imperfections, musical and otherwise,” Tweedy said in a statement.
The physical of copies of Cruel Country will come with a gatefold package created by Grammy-winning designer Lawrence Azerrad and includes band photos and a panel of postcards. Additionally, red and white vinyl LPs will be sold in a limited indie-story-only run of 5,000 units.
The video for “A Lifetime to Find” comes just in time for Halloween and finds the band – Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Mikael Jorgensen, Pat Sansone and Nels Cline – hanging out with paranormal creatures and characters at the Elks Lodge in North Adams, Mass., the very same place where Wilco’s adored Solid Sound Festival takes place annually.
The news of the physical copies’ release, along with the video, comes hot on the heels of Wilco’s return home after five months of touring. They’re set to tour again in the spring of 2023, including a sold-out residency in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Pre-order Cruel Country on vinyl and CD here.
Watch Wilco’s video for “A Lifetime to Find” below.
