Wilco is set to release a new concert DVD, Ashes of American Flags, on Nonesuch, Saturday, April 18, at independent retailers and nonesuch.com nationwide as part of national Record Store Day. The film, shot in high-def and produced and directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, presents Wilco live in concert during their 2008 tour. Culled from concerts in five quintessentially American venues—Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Tipitina’s in New Orleans, The Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC—it captures the energy, poignancy, and musicality of a Wilco concert and tour.
Wilco is set to release a new concert DVD, Ashes of American Flags, on Nonesuch, Saturday, April 18, at independent retailers nationwide as part of national Record Store Day. The DVD will also be available on that day here in the Nonesuch Store. A wide release will follow on April 28. Watch the film's trailer at nonesuch.com/media.
"My introduction to a lot of great music and to the 'music business' came from hanging around and eventually working at independent record stores in Belleville, IL, and St. Louis many years back,” said Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. “It's the life I know. Nothing beats browsing in your favorite store, listening to music, finding something new or old that you've been searching for, being ignored by the store clerks, all that. And without these stores, there's just no way Wilco would still be around. They've been with us from the very beginning, through thick and thin. Even if I wasn't in a band, I'd still support Record Store Day. It's a great thing and I'm glad we could do something special with them.”
Ashes of American Flags is produced and directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi’s Brendan Canty and shot in five quintessentially American venues: Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, OK; Tipitina’s in New Orleans, LA; The Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, AL; The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN; and the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. Mixing live concert footage with band interviews, it takes the viewer behind the scenes of Wilco’s 2008 US tour capturing both the expansive experience of rolling across America in a tour bus and the intimacy that happens night after night between the members of Wilco and the music they make, and between the band and their fans who come to experience it with them.
“It is really interesting to me how the experience of watching the live performances changes when the songs are given geographical, personal and historical contexts," said Christoph Green. " We wanted to make a tour film that would deepen and change the viewer’s relationship with the music.”
“Ashes was captured completely on the fly with a terrifying lack of planning, so everything you see in this film is real," adds Brendan Canty. "The musicianship and their combined will to elevate each song to new heights every night is real. Their appreciation of one another is real, and at the core of the film is their increasingly brilliant body of songs. I can only hope the film conveys the feeling of utter joy, beauty and triumph I feel after I see them play. “
Shot in high definition, Ashes of American Flags is a Trixie production in association with Nonesuch Records and dBpm, Inc.
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