Wilco is one of the most inspiring bands I have ever listened. I've seen the video that thenewgreen refers to and would recommend watching it. Same goes for if you've never seen I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, it's a beautifully done documentary. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the album I listened to most when my dad died, I don't know why but I just sat there for hours at night listening to it, it struck such an emotional chord with me. Typing this makes me realize how much I need to see them live. Multiple times. I could talk about this band for hours. 3 favorite albums by them:
1. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2. Summerteeth
3. Sky Blue Sky
I am trying to break your heart is one of the best music documentaries I have ever seen. I probably see it once a year. I find it incredibly inspiring as someone that makes albums. When Tweedy says that their songs are ours to destroy it really resonated with me, it's a liberating concept. The Bennett/Tweedy moments are both hard to watch and impossible not to, like driving passed a car wreck. I'm sorry to read about your dad. Music is such a great companion though and I think you chose a damn good album to help see you through that. You are right, you MUST see them live. I can't recall how many times I've seen them now but every time has been fantastic and different than the last. They're amazing. Truly.
I was planning on seeing them in spring, but managed to contract Mono a few days before the concert. That album and Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie got me through that period. Thanks for your condolences. The tension between Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy are what made those earlier Wilco albums so great. Two incredibly talented musicians who seemed to not being able to stand one another, and yet that relationship fed them and made them greater than I think they realized. Yes, that line in the movie is so powerful. Watching the effects of them touring, how they beat themselves into the ground on a nightly basis, it makes you realize what they had on the line and how much the music meant to them. I make music as well (nothing recorded, planning on doing some singer-songwriter stuff similar to Tweedy soon though), and the way that they represent their own music is amazing to see, even if just in film.