I don’t care what anyone says, I miss Jay Bennett in Wilco. The albums produced by that band during his tenure remain some of my favorites by any artist and the albums released since his departure just don’t ring the same for me. I get that he and Jeff Tweedy had to part ways, but I wish it weren’t so.

So, we know that Wilco headlined the second night of Lollapalooza capping off a couple years now of ever higher profile shows and opportunities, but what’s Jay been up to? For one, he relocated his Pie Holden Suite Sound from Chicago to “the beautiful twin cities of Champaign/Urbana, IL.” In an email to fans, Bennett catches up on the last 18 months and his plans for the future, including the release of THREE albums and another collaboration with an old friend…no, not THAT old friend.

That’s right, I’ll be releasing three new records in the upcoming months – I’ve just finished writing and recording a new solo record, to be called “Kicking at the Perfumed Air.” Also, during the move I came across some half-finished material by my previous band, Titanic Love Affair. Not only did this lead to reconnecting with “the original cast” of TLA, but these songs left us wondering why they never made it on earlier albums. We’re going to change that, as we’ve now finished a whole album’s worth of “new” TLA songs. And finally, I’ll be reuniting on record with my longtime musical collaborator, Edward Burch, on a 6 song EP “Tribute to a Tribute” to Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds.

You can check out some of the works in progress and also some of that fabulous gear Wilco’s missing on Jay’s MySpace page.