Where Are You, Jay Bennett?

I love Jay's music from early Wilco and the Mermaid Avenue sessions straight through to his later solo work, and I wish his talents were better-known. This film colored in additional detail about his life that made me appreciate his work all the more. What a tragedy that he was taken from us at a time when his life was on an upswing. While this film led me to revisit the previous documentary with fresh eyes, to me there are no villains in this story, just the sadness and resignation of well-meaning, extremely talented people drifting apart. Actually, scratch that: the villain in the story is the U. S. healthcare system.

An in depth story into a complex man who had a huge role in the evolution of a great band. Ultimately he may have been a tortured soul with an over abundance of creativity, but he pushed the band to the heights they achieved after he was let go. I enjoy the before and after versions of their music, but if you're a fan of their post Yankee Hotel Foxtrot catalog, Jay deserves credit for the experimental nature of the next few records. It's also a nice counter narrative to I Will Break Your Heart. The video quality isn't great, but the story is worth it. His family lends great insight. May he rest in peace.

Great, unbiased film that tells the story of Jay Bennett whose influence on Wilco's records like Being There, Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot helped evolve Wilco to where they are today. A true artist.

Ask any Wilco fan what their favorite album by the band is, and you know they'll say Being There, Summerteeth, or YHF. That, of course, is the Jay Bennett era.

Sadly, too many modern fans of Wilco (and music in general) have no appreciation for how talented Jay was. How influential. How creative. This film takes it upon itself to show you, to teach you. Consider it a Master Class in Jay Bennett appreciation.

Through countless interviews with family, friends, and colleagues - along with fantastic interviews with Jay himself - you get a full picture of his history, development, his ups and downs, his quirks and his generosity. But it's not a false narrative. There's no worshipping at the altar of a false messiah. The people who knew him best reveal the true picture of the man. He was complicated, sometimes difficult, obsessed with details, and sometimes had a bit of a kitchen sink approach to recording music.

Above all, you learn how Bennett worked so hard to be everything he could be to anyone who needed him. He'd wear as many hats as necessary. Like so many of us, he just wanted to be liked, appreciated, and most of all understood.

This documentary is NOT just for fans of Wilco. Any true music fan will love this film.

Jay Bennett is one of the least known geniuses of popular music. His name should be mentioned in the same breath as Brian Wilson and Brian Eno, but he has been unfairly cast, by an earlier documentary film, as the necessary villain of the early Wilco story. A poignant, moving, celebration of a true innovator in music who tragically passed before his time. Where Are You, Jay Bennett? Is the product of 10 years of work, and it shows. I've just attended the world premiere and I can say, without doubt, that this is a story that needed to be told.