Wilco returns to Wilmington

It was once written in the New York Magazine that Wilco can't record a voicemail greeting without getting a five-star review from Rolling Stone.

That's the kind of critics' darlings this Chicago-based band has become over the last decade, as it segued from the Stones-inspired country rock to a more progressive, experimental sound.

They even won a Grammy for 2004's "A Ghost is Born," which is chock-full of stuff that traditionally never gets recognized by the Academy - namely good music.

And now, less than a year after playing Wilmington's 1,160-seat Grand Opera House, they're moving on up to Frawley Stadium - the 6,532-seat home to the Wilmington Blue Rocks.

They'll be out in support of their self-titled seventh studio album (ninth if you count two collaborations with Billy Bragg on the Woody Guthrie Mermaid Avenue project).

They'll also be out just a month after the sudden death of founding member Jay Bennett. Bennett left the band in 2001 on the eve of the release of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," often heralded as the band's best work.

Bennett's fingerprints were all over that record, yet creative differences and a power struggle between he and front man Jeff Tweedy (well documented in the Sam Jones' film "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart") led to the split.

Bennett quietly recorded four albums of solo material since leaving, all of which deserve to be heard, but just before his death he made headlines when he sued Tweedy for unpaid royalties from the sale of the aforementioned film and other projects.

Bennett was suffering tremendous pain and in desperate need of hip replacement surgery, but was without health insurance to pay for it.

Wilco has thrived for the better part of a decade since Bennett left the band, but his passing sparked a new round of debate about who was more important to the band's ascent, Bennett or Tweedy. It's not unlike the debate that still rages about the merits of Tweedy and Jay Farrar, estranged partners in the seminal alt-country innovators Uncle Tupelo.

To these ears, there's little doubt Bennett had the more creative ear and was most instrumental in steering the band in its new direction. But that's not to discredit Tweedy. Always the consummate showman, he is a natural bandleader in another sense too: He always surrounds himself with top-quality musicians. From Bennett and longtime bassist John Stirratt to the more recent additions of drummer extraordinaire Glenn Kotche and guitar god Nels Cline, Wilco is perennially the most technically proficient band on the touring circuit.

There aren't many bands that could pull off the complex arrangements of songs like "Poor Places" or "Ashes Of American Flags" and yet breathe new life into them each and every time they're played live.

There is perhaps no other band that faces the expectations night in and night out like Wilco, and no other band better equipped to exceed them each and every time.