Jay Bennett Survives Magnificent Defeat To Release New Album

Former Wilco multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett will continue his prolific ways with the Sept. 26 release of his new solo album, The Magnificent Defeat.

The Rykodisc LP follows a pair of 2004 releases, Bigger Than Blue and The Beloved Enemy. The 13 tracks on The Magnificent Defeat were culled from more than 70 written by Bennett over the last three years.

"In retrospect, I realize the preliminary catalyst was a sequence of unfortunate events in my life," is how Bennett explained the rush of songs to Billboard.com. "Four close relatives passing away in the span of one year, major illness in my immediate family, going through a divorce brought me to a low point in my life... But it kicked off a creative flurry of songwriting and recording."

Bennett collaborated with David Vandervelde, Jonathan Pines and "and some other hand-picked and trusted Urbana [Illinois] folks" like Edward Birch, Tim Edwards, Ian Fell and Justin Walden on The Magnificent Defeat.

Bennett played a number of instruments, including seven Hammond organs, a bowed Kay bass and a Playskool tambourine.

"Like most studio obsessives, I have the requisite arsenal of vintage guitars, both acoustic and electric, and a lot of keyboards, but these aren't necessarily my preferences," he said.

"No, I'm master of the garage/yard sale. And over the years, I have put together 'The Land Of Misfit Instruments.'"

Two songs from The Magnificent Defeat, "Replace You" and "5th Grade," are available on Bennett's MySpace page.

Bennett joined Wilco just after the completion of A.M. and left shortly before Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was finished. He was originally hired as Wilco's lead guitarist, but also became the band's keyboardist, recording engineer and co-songwriter with Jeff Tweedy.

Bennett's three previous post-Wilco solo albums were released by Undertow Music. He has also played with or produced the likes of Sheryl Crow, Billy Joe Shaver, Allison Moorer, Jellyfish, Tim Easton and Tommy Keene.

Here are the songs on The Magnificent Defeat:

"Slow Beautifully Seconds Faster"
"5th Grade"
"Wide Open"
"The Palace At 4AM"
"Replace You"
"Out All Night"
"Thank You"
"Phone Book"
"Overexcusers"
"Survey The Damage"
"Butterfly"
"I'm Feelin' Fine"
"Good As Gold"