 During a January 17, 2007 solo concert, frontman Jeff Tweedy announced that the band would release their sixth studio album on May 15, 2007 through Nonesuch Records.The album was named "Sky Blue Sky", a reference to a childhood memory of Tweedy's, of a Memorial Day parade in Belleville, Illinois.He had come home from St. Louis with his family, but could not reach his house because the parade blocked the main street.