R.I.P. Jay Bennett (Wilco)

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett, formerly of Wilco, died this morning in Urbana, Illinois. He was 45 years old; the cause of death is not yet known.

Bennett was a member of Wilco from 1994 through 2001, and was a driving force behind their albums Being There, Summerteeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as well as their Mermaid Avenue collaborations with Billy Bragg. Bennett’s departure from the band, during the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, was chronicled in the 2002 documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. – Pitchfork –