Cruel Country

Pitchfork 7.2/10 On a 21-track double album recorded live in the studio, Wilco embrace a simple, buoyant approach that hearkens back to Jeff Tweedy’s earliest work.

NME 4/5 On their 12th album, the alt-rockers have embraced their country music influences with open arms, but sidestepped all of the genre's clichés.

The Line of Best Fit 8/10 Ultimately ... the highs triumph over the occasional coasting, even if it's hard to entirely shake off the feeling that there's a killer 12 or 14 track record to top off Wilco's return to studio form on 2019's Ode to Joy lurking amongst this bumper crop of Jeff Tweedy’s songs and Wilco’s telepathic dynamics.

Rolling Stone 4/5 Their latest is a beautifully rootsy album with a broken sense of patriotic concern.

All Music 4/5 Cruel Country ... feels as unified and well plotted as anything in Wilco's catalog, and it's deeply moving, powerfully heartfelt music from a handful of gifted players serving their songs beautifully.

Clash 9/10 That ambient sound – the sound of freedom and loneliness, of abandonment in the best and worst senses of the word – is a stand-in for what makes Wilco’s take on country-adjacent music so uniquely brilliant.

Mojo 4/5 Back together in one room, songs flowing, Wilco determine to reshape country.

The Observer 4/5 The band return to their alt country roots – and live takes – with a double album full of worldly wisdom.

Spectrum Culture 75% The edgier and adventurous strands of Wilco’s DNA continue to remain on standby. We all have ways of coping with whatever cruel country we find ourselves in, and for Tweedy and company, it’s to zero in on the song and let it breathe.

Beats Per Minute 58% Had they released this collection track by track, dripping them online right after recording during the lockdown – maybe then their aura could have been retained and it would warrant some nostalgic sympathy for them. But releasing them all in one go as an album marks the band’s first misstep in 30 years.

Uncut 9/10 Cruel Country is the rare album that throws everything that came before it into sharp belief - a small miracle for a band 30 years into his run.