Though his band has been on tour for almost eight months straight, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy isn't one to complain about the road. Quite the contrary, he sees the band's slated summer spots as something of a rock 'n' roll vacation.

Wilco is dividing their summer time between the Canadian rock festival tour "Another Roadside Attraction" and an opening spot on Sheryl Crow's U.S. tour, both of which promise to provide sizable audiences and area rock atmospheres. Along the way, the band plans to record new songs for an upcoming album.

"We're doing these tours cause they're fun," said Tweedy, the singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose excessively normal and refreshingly appreciative attitude is only exacerbated by his toddler Spencer, heard babbling in the background as he spoke to ATN from his Chicago home Monday. "You know, it's not the same audience we play to when we do our own tours, and it's 45-minutes a day and the rest of the day we get to goof off. It's kind of our summer vacation."

With the release of their sophomore album Being There in the fall of 96, Wilco impressed critics and, quite frankly, themselves by producing an expansive double album. Sales forBeing There have done well for a double album, helped along by the fact that the double disk had a single CD price tag.

"I'm pretty surprised actually," said Tweedy," I mean it didn't sell a million records, that would've been nice. But it sold a lot more than A.M. (Wilco's debut album). I really thought people would be a lot meaner about the whole thing, being a double record and all, but people didn't seem to mind that much. I guess, you know, it helped that it was cheap."

While Wilco is sure to get their dose of summer fun, Tweedy said the band is by no means slowing down. "We're actually starting (to record a new album) on the Sheryl Crow tour. We book studios in whatever town we're in on our day off. We just like record it as we go, wherever we are."

Tweedy expects to complete the album in time for an early '98 release. "When we're done touring we'll be finishing up and you know maybe doing some longer, real recording style-type sessions, just to fix everything we screwed up on the road and then we'll hopefully have something done by the end of the year."

In addition to touring and recording, Wilco are making several television appearances ("Hard Rock Live" July 27 and Conan O'Brien, Aug. 14), contributing material to the soundtrack of the feature film "Anthem" and have plans to collaborate and record with several other artists in the coming months.

Among the artists is British folk-rocker Billy Bragg, who will begin working with Tweedy in January on music for some archived Woodie Guthrie lyrics. Wilco has been recruited to play the songs. "He has like thousands of lyrics that weren't ever put to music so we're just sorting through the archives and writing music for all these lyrics and then making a record out of it," he said.

Despite Wilco's prolific summer plans, Tweedy remains unassuming, "We're busy, we try to work hard. You gotta give people the feed you know."

And if it's feed fans are looking for, Tweedy has an abundance of it. "I've got like a million songs to pick from when we go to make the record," he said. "I feel that my odds are a lot better coming up with something that I like. I hope it'll be good. You never know what'll happen. We're thinking maybe a triple this time..."

Wilco Tour Dates:

(with Another Roadside Attraction tour)

July 17; Vancouver, B.C.; Thunderbird Staduim

July 19; Calgary, Alberta; High River

July 21; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Saskatchewan Place

July 23; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Assiniboia Downs

July 26; Highgate, Vermont; Franklin Co. Field

July 28; Ottawa, Ontario; Capital City Speedway

July 30; Buffalo, N.Y.; Erie Co. Fairgrounds

Aug. 2; Toronto, Ontario; Molson Amphitheater

(with Sheryl Crow)

Aug. 15; Wantagh, N.Y.; Jones Beach Amphitheater

Aug. 16; Philadelphia, Pa.; Mann Music Center

Aug. 17; Homdel, N.J.; PNC Bank Arts Center

Aug. 18; Columbia, Md.; Merriweather Post Pavilion

Aug. 19; Boston, Mass.; Harborlights Pavilion

Aug.21; Cleveland, Ohio; Nautica Stage

Aug. 22; E. Lansing, Mich.; Michigan Festival

Aug. 23; Detroit, Mich.; Meadowbrook

Aug. 24; Chicago, Ill.; Rosemont Theater

Aug. 26; Kansas City, Mo.; Starlight Theater

Aug. 28; Morrison, Colo.; Red Rocks

Aug. 29; Park City, Utah; Wolf Mountain

Aug 31; Seattle, Wash.; Bumbershoot Festival

Sept. 01; Portland, Ore.; L.B. Day Amphitheater

Sept. 04; Reno, Nev.; Reno Hilton Amphitheater

Sept. 05; Berkeley, Calif.; Greek Theater

Sept. 06; Los Angeles, Calif.; Universal Amphitheater

Sept. 07; San Diego, Calif.; Hospitality Point

Sept. 09; Mesa, Ariz.; Mesa Amphitheater

Sept. 10; Santa Fe, N.M.; Pablo Soleri

Sept. 12; San Antonio, Texas; Suken Gardens Amphitheater

Sept. 13; The Woodlands, Texas; C. W. Mitchell Pavilion

Sept. 14; Dallas, Texas; Starplex Amphitheater

Sept. 16; St Louis, Mo.; Fox Amphitheater

Sept. 17; Nashville, Tenn.; Starwood Amphitheater

Sept. 18; Memphis, Tenn.; Mud Island Amphitheater

Sept. 19; Atlanta, Ga.; Chastain Park Amphitheater

Sept. 20; Tampa, Fla.; TBA

Sept. 21; W. Palm Beach, Fla.; Coral Sky Amphitheater