By now, everyone has probably heard the sad news that ex-Wilco multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jay Bennett died unexpectedly in his sleep over the weekend. He was just 45 years old. Jay was an amazing musician and while I’ve never met him, I’ve enjoyed his recent solo albums and my 3 favorite Wilco albums are the ones he had a hand in (Being There, Summerteeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot). He will be missed.
I’m not going to go into any depth regarding Bennett’s condition, his lack of health insurance, or anything like that. That sort of stuff is better left to outlets other than this. I do (however) have some comments that I’ve been thinking about since I heard the news of Bennett’s death.
Even though the Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart seems to portray Bennett in a fairly negative way, there is no denying that I haven’t liked anything Wilco has done since then as much. Additionally, one of my favorite moments from the film is Bennett’s stirring rendition of “My Darling,” a song he originally wrote/recorded that became a Wilco song.
I love Jeff Tweedy as a songwriter, but isn’t he much better when he has some sort of opposing creative force to challenge him? In Uncle Tupelo, Tweedy had Jay Farrar until the band broke up. In Wilco, Tweedy found foil in Jay Bennett (through the YHF sessions at least). On Wilco’s last three albums, Tweedy has basically gone unchecked as far as I can tell, so while I like those albums they lack the same sort of spark/fire that his Uncle Tupelo and early Wilco material has. That’s just my opinion though.
So with that all I’ve listened to the past few days are some of Bennett’s solo material and the Wilco albums he is featured on. It’s so so very good. It isn’t hard to hear exactly how much he influenced Wilco’s sound during his years with the band considering how much like Summerteeth many of the songs on his album The Palace At 4AM sound. It’s a shame he had to go so soon.
For more, check out the following tributes from:
Ryan’s Smashing Life
NPR
Captain’s Dead
Aquarium Drunkard
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Its kind of a mind fuck when amazing musicians lives are cut short & so abruptly. I’m no critic, I’m no expert but its very moving when creative minds such as Bennett’s are taken in a moment’s notice – we will never know what “musical gifts” we are missing. God, this shit is so sad.