The Red and Black

Some like folk. Others like rock. And then there are some that like Radiohead.

Mix them all together, along with some other more indefinable elements, and that might just be Wilco.

The popular Chicago-based group will play a sold out show tonight at the Classic Center's Grand Hall.

The band is an offspring of the late '80s and early '90s alt-country group Uncle Tupelo, which also included Son Volt founder Jay Farrar and it is known for altering its sound between records.

"It never stays the same," Classic Center box office attendant Chris Johnson said of his fondness for the group. "It always changes from one album to the next."

The band wasn't available to talk, but fans were.

For Athens resident Phillip Harris Jr., Wilco's appeal lies in intimate songwriting, primarily done by Jeff Tweedy.

Harris sees Wilco's songs as too intimate for the insensitive listener's ears.

"I wouldn't recommend (Wilco) to a callous individual," he said.

The lyrics have too changed through the years, becoming "a lot more personal," Harris said.

Tonight's show also will be the first Athens concert since the release of Fall 2005's "Kicking Television: Live in Chicago," the band's only live album.

Rolling Stone magazine called it "a love letter to Wilco's dedicated fans and a definitive live statement from America's foremost rock impressionists."

"Kicking Television" is a compilation of live recordings, mainly from the last two albums, played in its hometown with the current lineup.

In a recent Paste magazine interview, Tweedy said he owes making a live album now after more than 10 years to mostly "feeling really, really good about this lineup of the band."

Wilco is now a sextet that includes a new guitarist and keyboardist.

"One of the things that people have said about our last few records, a lot, is that they're experimental and weird, and we don't feel that way at all," Tweedy said to Paste. "And maybe playing the songs live illustrates that a little bit better - that they're rock songs."

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