Wilco - The (Deluxe) Whole Love

After seven studio albums, various collaborations and countless days on the road over the past 15 years, Wilco tried something new before starting work on its eighth record, the Chicago band took a vacation. Staying off stage for most of the latter half of 2010 was the longest break from touring that bandleader Jeff Tweedy has had in a career stretching back more than 20 years.It was a real breath of fresh air, says Tweedy, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who founded the group in the mid-'90s. Wilco has pretty much been recording in between scheduled tours for 15 years or more, so it was really great to have a chance to recharge and forget how to play all the old songs.Or, more specifically, to put the old songs out of mind long enough to write some new ones. Although he wasn't out on the road much, Tweedy was working, writing so many songs that the musicians initially thought they had enough material for two new records when Wilco reconvened last fall in the Loft, the group's Chicago recording studio.