Retooled Wilco Displays Great Adventurousness

Ryan Adams may be the post-alt-country man of the moment, but he’s got a long way to go to catch up to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. In the first of two nights at the El Rey Theatre on Wednesday, Tweedy and his newly streamlined group showed stunning reach and range as they previewed material from their fourth album, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” due for spring release from Nonesuch Records.

Tweedy, co-founder of alt-country progenitor Uncle Tupelo, has always been unwilling to toe stylistic lines--a stance that reportedly led to Wilco’s recent departure from Reprise Records. At the El Rey all lines were erased in a set that showed the Chicago-based quartet to be sort of an American equivalent of Radiohead in terms of adventurousness and refusal to adhere to conventions, yet emotionally resonant and grounded in solid songwriting.

The opening “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart” put all the chips on the table, with Tweedy’s low-key vocals and acoustic guitar buffeted and buoyed by tinkling, clattering, chimes and swirls from keyboardist Leroy Bach and drummer Glenn Kotche. But Tweedy used these sonic tools judiciously. Some songs were aural assaults, others bare-bones folk-rock or power-pop.

Tweedy’s vignettes similarly reach for the stars (literally, as celestial imagery is a recurring motif), but with direct, earthy economy. “I would like to salute the ashes of American flags, and all the falling leaves filling up shopping bags,” he sang in a new song that, intentionally or otherwise, pays tribute to the incomprehensible events of Sept. 11 and mundane scenes of everyday life.

Well into the show, one fan yelled, “Play something from your heart.” An incredulous Tweedy later responded, sarcastically, “Now we’ll play one from our pocketbooks.” Radiohead manages to have it both ways. Maybe Wilco can too.