Nuggets

I am in big time Jeff Tweedy/Wilco mood this morning after seeing Jeff live last night.

So I am going to give you a Nugget that almost made my top 50.

Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie’s daughter, wanted to have new music set to Woody’s "lost songs".  The "lost songs" are lyrics to which Woody had music set
in his head, but where he had never published the music.

MermaidShe recruited Billy Bragg and Wilco to do the music and in 1998 they put out a record called Mermaid Avenue, named after the street in Coney Island where Woodie spent his later years (and where a young Bob Dylan found him when he got to NYC).

Woodie Guthrie wrote wonderful songs, many of which we all know by heart.  These songs are more of the same.  The powerful simplicity of the words are trademark Guthrie.

Billy Bragg and Jeff Tweedy do more than justice to these songs.  They made an amazing record.  There are a number of songs on this record that have become classic Wilco numbers, including California Stars, At My Window Sad and Lonely, and One By One.

Billy Bragg contributes some great songs too, including Walt Whitman’s Niece, Ingrid Bergman, and The Unwelcome Guest (with Jeff doing backing vocals).

If you haven’t heard this record, you owe it yourself to do that, and soon.

#My Music