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These February days are long, cold and a little stormy, so this week’s mix is meant to lighten the mood and brighten some spirits. Essentially culled from my last month

Hidden Track started as a New York City-centric blog, but we’ve always aspired to bring you content from around the country. Today we’re excited to announce that we’re expanding our reach towards Middle America.

Please welcome the newest member of our team, Joel Berk, who will head up our coverage of the Midwest. You’ll be hearing about a wide range of music from our new Chicago Bureau Chief, but he’s gonna start by recapping Wilco’s Riviera run:

Alt Country rebels…folk rock heroes…pop darlings…sonic explorers…

All of those clichés were probably used to (correctly) describe Wilco at various points of its career, but during the band’s Riviera Residency in Chicago last week, one thing became clear: Wilco is a rock band.

Photos by Joel Berk

Over the course of five sold out evenings, Jeff Tweedy and company worked with precision through every song to appear on an official Wilco release and sprinkled in a smattering of other rarities. A daunting task as each record has a different sound and lineup. But the band rose to the challenge with an ease that can only come from being at the top of one’s game.

The current sextet is unbelievably focused and locked in as a unit. They dusted off gems like A.M.’s Dash 7 and Being There’s Hotel Arizona, making them sound as fresh and vibrant as ever. The comfort with which the current incarnation handled the older/out-of-rotation tunes was shocking at times, most notably on Monday’s Summerteeth gem, My Darling. Urging the band into unfamiliar territory, Tweedy reassured “we can do this” before introducing the song as “a lullaby” to close the second set. Read on for more including downloads from the Wilco run…

For five days in August Medeski, Martin and Wood are offering their musician fans a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience called Camp MMW. Eighty campers will gather at the Full Moon Resort

In my brief experience writing about music, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. Just a few days ago I incorrectly referred to Dumpstaphunk’s drummer as Anthony Webber instead of the proper

Sting gets the Classic 60 Minutes treatment Sunday night at 8 PM. Tune in to hear just how long he can last during his tantric sex sessions with his wife,

I thought we were in the clear without having to mention the words festival, Radiohead and Jack Johnson in the same sentence for a little while….Brief pause….Was that long enough?

While any future Led Zeppelin tour dates are still lurking in the darkest depths of Mordor, former front man Robert Plant has announced a slew of dates with his current

It’s February, which means there’s pretty much one festival announcement each day. Today we turn our focus to the Mid-Atlantic. Jam stalwarts Widespread Panic, Phil Lesh and Friends and Gov’t

On the heels of the Radiohead story that leaked earlier today, we now get the initial line-up for the inaugural edition of the All Points West Music & Arts Festival. Let’s take a look at who’s signed on so far…

Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Underworld, Kings of Leon, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Cat Power, The Roots, The New Pornographers, Youssou N’Dour, Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Metric, CSS, Girl Talk, Chromeo, The Go! Team, Amadou & Mariam, The Black Angels, Sia, The Felice Brothers, K’Naan, Jason Isbell, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Alberta Cross, The Virgins, Black Kids, Mates of State, Duffy, Forro in the Dark, Nicole Atkins, Juana Molina, Little Brother, Rogue Wave, Neil Halstead and Your Vegas.

Read on after the jump for ticket information…