Billy Bragg Albums in general

You could imagine that an album of songs set to previously unrecorded Woody Guthrie lyrics would be well made and serious--but who would have thought it would be so much fun! Taken together with 1996's Being There and 1999's Summerteeth, Mermaid Avenue makes a good argument for Wilco being the best band around. The music is always respectful and not jarringly anachronistic to the 40's traditionialism of Guthrie's words, yet the songs are still great 90's folk pop. California Stars and At My Window Sad and Lonely find the beauty and simplicity that Wilco writer Jeff Tweedy has shot for and recently approached. Hesitating Beauty and Hoodoo Voodoo are ...