NPR has called Wilco “the best live band in America.” Credit: Courtesy Photo / Wilco

Expect detours into uncharted territory during Wilco’s upcoming San Antonio concert.

The critically acclaimed band, whose sound blends alt-country and experimental rock, will play The Espee on Tuesday, May 6, as part of its Sweet and Sour North American tour. Alabama indie act Waxahatchee will open.

During a recent phone call with the Current, Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen explained that the Chicago-born group will devote time in its tour setlists to songs that haven’t often appeared in its live performances.

Jorgensen is loathe to use the term “music for the common man,” but the moniker seems to apply to Wilco, which continues the testifying tradition of folk forebears including Woodie Guthrie thanks to founding singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy. The act’s nebulous-yet-comforting sound also owes to country-rock crossover pioneers, including The Band.

Along with plenty of praise from critics, Wilco has bagged both Grammy Awards and nominations. NPR even called the act “the best live band in America.”

But don’t think it’s gone to their heads now. They’re just here to explore — or so Jorgensen said. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What can people expect from the show?

Lately, we have been kind of digging into the catalog and finding some roads that have not been well-traveled, songs that haven’t made it on to the set list over the years. Songs that are still very viable and exciting. I think it certainly keeps us on our toes. I think that it’s going to be fun for the fans too.

Sounds like you’re digging into deeper cuts from throughout your catalogue.

Sort of. Last year, we played Solid Sound [Festival] and we did a deep-cuts-only set, and it was an experience that we learned from. There’s all these songs that we just hadn’t gotten around to in a while, and so that’s been kind of a fresh infusion, in addition to songs from Cousin, of course, and some of the old faves.

How much of the setlist is going to be drawn from your 2023 LP Cousin and your 2024 EP Hot Sun Cool Shroud?

There will definitely be some from the new releases, but we’re all gathering later this week to go do some rehearsals and then play our show in Fairhope, Alabama.

And where are you based right now? Are you in Chicago?

No, I live in Ojai, California, north of LA — about an hour and a half or so.

And is the band scattered throughout the country?

The base of operations is still Chicago, but Patrick is in Nashville, Nelson up near Albany, Glen and Jeff are in Chicago, of course, and John is in Maine.

So, how does that work with rehearsals? How do you how do you find time to get together and stay tight as a collective?

For the one reason that we’ve been doing this a long time together, and we have the benefit of hundreds if not thousands of shows and performances. And in advance of a tour, we just all sort of dust off the cobwebs and play through a bunch at home on our own time, and then when we get to rehearsal, it’s like putting on a pair of really great jeans.

Wilco has been called one of the greatest live bands in the world. Why do you think that is?

I mean that’s quite the statement to have to live up to over and over again. I think there’s a lot of reasons why people really love what it is that we do. I think, first and foremost, Jeff’s great at writing music and lyrics, [which is] the kind of fundamental core of it all. But all of us have big musical appetites and are influenced by so many different kinds of music, not just country or rock or pop or folk music. There’s a lot of different colors and approaches to it, and I think we use all of that together in a way that people really seem to enjoy quite a bit. It’s exciting, it makes me proud, it’s also very humbling.

And so for you, in particular, what would those influences be?

Garth Hudson from The Band is right off the bat. The late and absolutely wonderful Richard Manuel, also from The Band. But also I don’t claim to be these people. My hero is Booker T. from Booker T. and the MGs. Of course, Billy Preston and then maybe it’s not super-obvious but there is certainly a bit of Kraftwerk, Can’s Irmin Schmidt, ? and the Mysterians. [Even] “Heroes Fall,” the theme from Beverly Hills Cop.

When you came on, your first album with the band, A Ghost Is Born, won Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package. You had just joined on and already there’s this crazy recognition. What did that feel like?

Well, I grew up in the ‘90s and all of the punk rock and major-label stereotypes were swimming around in my mind, and I was always on the side of the underdog, it felt like, and so suddenly being recognized for the work that we did on that record, it was kind of disorienting in a way. I was like, “This is this isn’t why I do this.” We do it because we’re kind of pathologically programmed to make music and to all of a sudden have to answer questions like these … . But as I’ve gotten older, it’s really great. I’m so proud of that record and the fact that a wider audience was connecting with it. That has felt really good over the years. But again, it wasn’t on the punch list of things to do, you know, like, “Alright, we’re going to make this record to win a Grammy.” Instead it was like, “Let’s just go do this,” so the fact that it was sort of organic to a degree. And we were all placing a lot of expectation when we were nominated. We were playing in — I think — Birmingham, Alabama, the night of the Grammy Awards, and we found out that we won before the show, and that was pretty amazing, I have to say. But, you know, it’s not a popularity contest, it’s not record sales, it’s not an audience choice or critics choice — it’s some measure of something to do with the music industry. But I guess that’s the long way of saying that I’m very grateful for the recognition.

Right. If a little ambivalent.

I think at the time, I was ambivalent about it. Also, I think possibly part of that came from the pressure that didn’t exist before, and so, I don’t know, maybe that’s my way to say if I don’t give this a lot of value in that moment, then I don’t have to think about like, “OK, well then, do we have to keep doing this to win Grammys?” There’s the threat of it changing the intention. Not that it did, but that was sort of the conversation I was having in my mind at the time but wasn’t able to fully articulate.

$54-$72.95, 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, The Espee, 1174 E. Commerce St., (888) 246-3185, theespee.com.

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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 13, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.