Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

"I am an American aquarium drinker/I assassin down the avenue..."--Wilco/Jeff Tweedy


Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, by alternative rock group Wilco, was released April 19, 2002 by Nonesuch Records. September 11, 2001 had been the originally scheduled release date, but the album was rejected by the group's former record company Reprise as "uncommercial". It was the biggest hit of Wilco's career and the record that broke them out into a wider audience.

I think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is not only Wilco's best work, I believe it is the finest album yet of the twenty-first century and a classic rock record, ranked with others like Abbey Road, Blood on the Tracks, Exile on Main Street, Pet Sounds and Who's Next. The sound is a patchwork quilt of folk, country, rock and electronic feedback, all combining with Jeff Tweedy's voice to create a beautiful stark sonic landscape. These songs also strongly remind me of St. Louis, my hometown, the setting for these stories. (Tweedy grew up in Belleville, an Illinois town about a half hour from St. Louis.)

I first bought this album while composing my novel Surrender. After playing it several times, I realized how amazing and haunting it was. I promptly wrote it into my story. It gave the book a dimension it never would've had otherwise.

Per iKïyå§ama 's contest "Musicology Anthology" , I've written a story for each song on the album. All of them are about Jim Turner, a St. Louis photographer, and his relationship with Pat Mueller. Each story can stand on its own (more or less) and can be read in any order. Just like the songs on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

I hope you enjoy these stories. They mean a great deal to me.