Wilco has built successful career with little commercial exposure

When Jeff Tweedy decides to make a record, people make it a point to listen.

Over the last 13 years, his work with Wilco has resulted in two Grammy Awards due in no small way to the unyielding critical acclaim the band has received throughout the years. That said, the band has had almost as many lineup changes as they have albums — six different band configurations and seven albums. Unfortunately, the commercial success of Wilco has never quite matched the band's critical acclaim and fan appeal.

Part of the issue might well be that only one time has the band released a new studio album in subsequent years — "A.M." (1995) and "Being There" (1996) — whereas the rest of the group's releases have been separated by a good three years.

In any case, in spite of it being sonically different than its predecessor, the band's most recent album — last year's "Sky Blue Sky" — has been widely heralded as being some of the group's best songwriting.

"After a certain number of records," said Tweedy, in an interview with playboy.com, "if people are paying attention, there's always going to be a certain amount of dissent.

"Either you've done the same thing too many times and you're not branching out enough, or you've changed the formula and people are upset."

It's the first time the same lineup — founding members John Stirratt and Tweedy, along with Glen Kotche, Nels Cline, Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen — entered the studio for a second consecutive time to write and record. This made it the "easiest experience" in an often turbulent and dysfunctional career, according to the band. Working together as opposed to against one another had an effect on the finished product as well.

The album is simpler and more direct then its predecessor "A Ghost is Born."

In fact, "Sky Blue Sky" has a soothing sunny disposition in terms of the soundscape. Tweedy admits to being influenced by The Byrds and that laid-back vibe of the Southern California sound heard back in the 1970s. However, in an Entertainment Weekly review the critic went so far as to write, "This may be the best Eagles album the Eagles never made."

Critics have fussed over Wilco ever since it spawned in the wake of singer and guitarist Jay Farrar splitting from the seminal alt-country group Uncle Tupelo. Since then expectations have always been rather lofty for the Chicago-based outfit.

Tweedy and Stirratt originally kept the remaining Tupelo lineup — Ken Coomer and Max Johnston — intact. In fact, the group even contemplated keeping the name before deciding to call the band Wilco.

The band was described in Rolling Stone as "consistently interesting."

Not only has the group been interesting, but they've remained as influenced (Bill Fay, Television) as they have been influential (The National, Cherry Ghost) throughout the group's oftentimes turbulent career.

One of the most talked about album of its career — "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (2002) — was as equally heralded as it was controversial.

Initially rejected by Reprise Records, the band also was dismissed from the label. However, upon its eventual leak, the project has become as revered as any in its catalog. Fans in the Low Country have an opportunity to see the band's show — rescheduled from an earlier date — as the group winds down its tour in support of "Sky Blue Sky"

Keith Ryan Cartwright is a Colorado-based freelance entertainment journalist.