A Fan’s Notes: A Wilco mega fan picks their 11 best songs

Wilco debuts Star Wars at the Pitchfork Music Festival | Photo by Scott Troyan | scotttroyan.com
When it comes to Wilco we know of no bigger fan of Jeff Tweedy and company than Frank Silvestry. When he’s not going on about the awesomeness that is Radiohead, Silvestry is a totally committed Wilco fanatic, going all the way back to the band’s beginnings in 1994.

Silvestry, whose day job is as Associate Professor of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, is about to again witness the brilliance of Wilco’s live show this Saturday night, June 4th when they play the Mann Center with Richard Thompson. With that, we decided to get a fan’s perspective on Wilco’s incredible catalogue, and asked Silvestry (who, by the way is also an WXPN member) to pick the ten most essential Wilco songs. He gave us eleven.

About Wilco and his long love affair with them, Silvestry told us:

I’ve been nearly obsessed with Wilco since their inception in 1994, and recognize what a truly impossible task it is to distill their deep and varied catalog into only 10 (or 11) truly essential songs listed here. Starting with their straight up alt-country debut A.M. and culminating in last years surprise release of Star Wars – this band has written and recorded some of the most gorgeous, detailed, and uniquely American music out there. So much of my life has been punctuated and highlighted by Wilco’s music, their lyrics, their attention to detail, and, of course, their unparalleled live shows.

My wife Maggie and I have seen them in excess of 50 times over the past 20 years, witnessed every one of their evolving line-ups, starting with Valentines day 1997 at the Trocadero when she was 7 months pregnant with a soon-to-become 2nd generation Wilco fan, Noah. Wilco shows have always been a family affair, and we’ve traveled to see Wilco in too many states to count, stood outside in the December freezing cold in Chicago before their winter residencies, jammed into the now defunct Chicago Lounge Ax to see Tweedy solo, talked jazz music with Nels Cline at Jazzfest in New Orleans, snapped pictures with Pat Sansone and John Stirratt in a friend’s basement at a local house party, and have been drenched to the bone numerous times in Joe’s field at each Solid Sound Festival where torrential downpour is an essential part of the experience. My only complaint is that they don’t stop in Philadelphia often enough. We can’t wait for their return to the Mann this Saturday.

Go to the XPN Concert Calendar for tickets and more information about the show.

Below, listen to Frank’s 11 essential Wilco songs Spotify playlist.