Jay Bennett, RIP

I only saw Jay Bennett once, shorty after the Wilco documentary. He was touring with Ed Burch and made a stop at TT the Bear's place in Cambridge, one of my favorite venues. I wasn't expecting much, since I hadn't seen the movie and had only second-hand knowledge of his relationship with Wilco. What I did know was that I loved Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and liked a lot of Summerteeth, so I was curious to see what he would do.

It turns out he was great, and it was one of the better shows I saw that year. He and Ed ran through a bunch of original tunes as well as some that were scrapped from the YHF sessions, including Venus Stopped the Train, A Magazine Called Sunset, and that one about getting high and stealing christmas trees. He mentioned how Tweedy had let him have the songs, since they were mostly his anyways. At the end of the show he called the two opening bands up on stage (whose names are lost to history) to play a cover of George Harrison's Isn't It a Pity. It completely brought the house down. People in the audience were visibly crying. I couldn't believe it. This guy who seemed sort of incapable of sincerity, threw himself 100% into the song and left it all out on the stage. It was one of the best encores I've ever seen.

This mp3 version, from an old George Harrison tribute record, doesn't even remotely do it justice. But still, it's a nice reminder of what Jay Bennett was actually capable of. You can also hear a lot of Wilco's musical ideas in it, from the chord changes to the overall tone. It's also a fitting tribute to the interesting character that was Jay Bennett.

Jay Bennett and Ed Burch - Isn't it a Pity.