Exactly 20 years ago, on November 17, 1994, Wilco played its first-ever concert (under the pseudonym Black Shampoo) at Cicero’s Basement Bar in St. Louis. Today, Nonesuch Records releases two new Wilco collections marking the band’s 20th anniversary: Alpha Mike Foxtrot, a four-disc/digital box set of rare studio and live recordings collected from the band’s extensive audio archives; and What’s Your 20?, a two-CD/digital compilation of essential tracks culled from the band’s previously released studio recordings.

Both collections are produced by Grammy-nominated producer Cheryl Pawelski, co-founder of Omnivore Recordings, whose credits include Big Star’s Keep an Eye on the Sky, The Band’s A Musical History, and Townes Van Zandt’s Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions and Demos 1971–1972. These are the first compilations of Wilco music of any kind. Both are available at your local record store, Wilcoworld.net, Nonesuch.com, iTunes, and Amazon.

Wilco has made “Blasting Fonda” from Alpha Mike Foxtrot available for streaming:

Written by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy in 1996 for the soundtrack to the movie Feeling Minnesota, the song, as Tweedy recalls in the liner notes, “was probably the first time it was just [multi-instrumentalist] Jay [Bennett] and me in the studio—which ended up happening a lot—just basically kind of seeing if we could make some sort of song happen with just the two of us.”

Alpha Mike Foxtrot features 64 pages of liner notes that include track-by-track recollections from Tweedy, notes by band members Nels Cline and John Stirratt and reflections from members of Wilco’s extended professional family. The booklet also showcases dozens of archival and never-before-seen photos from a wide array of photographers chronicling all phases of the band’s career.

What’s Your 20? gathers songs from Wilco’s eight studio albums plus two songs from Mermaid Avenue, the collection of Woody Guthrie-penned tunes set to music by Wilco and Billy Bragg.

In early December, Wilco will play a sold-out show at The Riverside Theater in Milwaukee and six sold-out shows at Chicago’s Riviera Theatre, adding to the string of anniversary concerts earlier this fall. Set lists will change each night and feature songs from every era of Wilco’s two-decade career. Sam Amidon will open for the band on the second Chicago show, December 6.

Wilco performed two songs from Alpha Mike Foxtrot—"A Magazine Called Sunset" and "Cars Can't Escape"—on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last month; you can watch both performances here.

WILCO ON TOUR

*w/special guest Sam Amidon