Loose Fur

Formation

In the winter of 1999, Wilco lead singer Jeff Tweedy acquired a copy of Jim O'Rourke's 1997 album Bad Timing. The album featured four instrumental tracks that juxtaposed guitar parts with orchestration. Tweedy liked how O'Rourke's music was varied and "not easily categorized". According to Tweedy:

Tweedy was invited to perform with a collaborator of his choice for the 2000 Noise Pop Festival in Chicago. The festival promoter offered to pair him with members of the Mekons, but Tweedy decided to collaborate with O'Rourke. The pair met at O'Rourke's apartment a few days before the festival. They listened to gramophone records by T. Rex, Phil Niblock, and Roy Harper; later that night they wrote material for the concert and agreed to meet the next day at the Wilco loft in Chicago. O'Rourke invited Glenn Kotche, a drummer who played in a similar musical style, to the practice session. Tweedy found lyrical inspiration from word exercises; for example, he picked out random words from a copy of TV Guide and formed abstract lines such as "you boil hearts and discuss birds". He also sought to improve as a guitarist, taking influence from free jazz artists such as James "Blood" Ulmer.

On May 14, 2000, Jeff Tweedy played the Noise Pop Festival at Double Door in a concert that polarized Wilco fans. Natalie Merchant joined the band onstage, but left after Tweedy requested that she perform Utah Phillips' murder ballad "Rock Salt and Nails". Among the new material performed at the concert was "Laminated Cat", a reworked version of a Wilco demo entitled "Not for the Season"—Tweedy was unhappy with the straightforwardness of Wilco's version. The trio decided to name their band Loose Fur and recorded a six-song album in the summer of 2000. The band also made an uncredited appearance on O'Rourke's 2001 solo album Insignificance. The Loose Fur album was not released at the time because Tweedy was busy recording Wilco's fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Influence on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

By winter 2000, Wilco had completed enough material for an album release. However, Tweedy was dissatisfied with the "emotional center" of the recordings. He wanted the release to sound more like the music he had recorded with Loose Fur, although he "couldn't put his finger on why." Tweedy wanted the album to advance the sound of Wilco in a similar fashion as Being There and Summerteeth. He became irritated by Wilco drummer Ken Coomer because Coomer disliked playing consistent drum patterns each time that the band played a song. Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett also soured on Coomer because of the drummer's lack of patience and consistency. Although he briefly considered adding Kotche as a secondary percussionist, Tweedy decided to replace Coomer with his Loose Fur bandmate:

Kotche re-wrote the drum parts for the album almost immediately upon his acceptance into the band. In one instance, he reworked "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" by adding parts played on hubcaps, crotales, and floor tiles. Although some members were unsure about the decision to replace Coomer with Kotche, the band unanimously supported the decision after hearing Kotche's new percussion parts. According to Bennett:

Coomer wasn't the only band member that struck a nerve with Tweedy during the recording sessions. Tweedy was unhappy with the way that Bennett mixed parts of the album, particularly the sequences between songs. Tweedy felt that Bennett was "burning out" while mixing the album, and invited Jim O'Rourke to remix "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart". Although Bennett conceded that O'Rourke did a better job of mixing the song, animosity arose between the two engineers. O'Rourke continued to remix more songs, and attempted to increase the drama of the album by reducing the contributions by the backing members of Wilco. He removed so many parts on some songs that only music by Tweedy, Kotche, and himself—the three members of Loose Fur—appeared on those pieces.

Recording career

On January 28, 2003, Loose Fur released the six-track album that they recorded at the Wilco loft in 2000. Unlike Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Loose Fur featured only one overdub per song. The band played two shows in Brooklyn, NY in support of the album, playing their first live show as "Loose Fur" on December 6, 2002.

In October 2005, Tweedy announced that the band was nearly finished recording their second Loose Fur album. The album, Born Again in the USA, was the first album to consist mostly of O'Rourke lyrics since Insignificance. Unlike their first album, Loose Fur did not tour to support the album. In contrast to their eponymous debut, Born Again in the USA was heavier with more harmonized guitar parts. Both of their albums were received favorably by critics. Tweedy performed "The Ruling Class" and "Laminated Cat" on a solo performance DVD in 2005. Glenn Kotche is still the drummer for Wilco, and Jim O'Rourke is a regular collaborator with the band; both performed on A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky. In a 2012 interview, drummer Glenn Kotche confirmed that while there are no definite dates selected to record a followup to Born Again In The USA, the three band members do plan on recording again.