Mermaid Avenue

Artists : Billy Bragg, Wilco, (& Woody Guthrie)

Album : Mermaid Avenue (1998)

Genre : Alt-Folk

YouTube Link : calif stars

Rating : ***** *** (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
Here's the scoop. In the 90's, Nora Guthrie, the daughter of folk-icon Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), asks leftist-activist folk-singer Billy Bragg if he is willing to take a bunch of Woody's unpublished lyrics and put them to music. BB agrees, and in turns asks alt-rock-country Wilco to collaborate. Bob Dylan gets miffed, claiming Woody promised him that honor, alas without any documentation to back that up.

The result is Mermaid Avenue, 15 tracks and 45 minutes of some of the freshest Alt.Folk to come along in quite some time.

What's To Like...
The blending of three disparate styles works out quite well and yields some refreshingly new Alt-Folk. The music is a mellow mixture of BB/Wilco; and is definitely not Woody-Guthrie style. I for one and thankful for that. Woody is first and foremost a lyricist, and his half-century-old lyrics are still quite relevant to today's world.

There are a slew of stand-out tracks : California Stars, Christ For President, Walt Whitman's Niece, and the John Prine-esque Hesitating Beauty.

There are a couple tracks from this album up on YouTube; the link to one of them is given above.

What's Not To Like...
Both groups seem to be holding back a bit. It reminds me of a CD put out by Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler a few years back. With talent like that; you expect the spectacular. Instead they both seem try to crawl into the shadows behind each other. Maybe Bragg/Wilco were doing the same thing out of respect for each other. Or maybe they were saving their best efforts for their individual albums.

There is some filler. And if you're looking for Wilco-style rock, it ain't to be found.

It's Folk; It's Not Supposed to be Musically Great...
What makes a great folk album? Well it isn't great guitar-work; I defy you to find anything beyond simple chording on a Simon & Garfunkel album. Nor is it the vocals; no one has accused Joan Baez of having anything beyond a mediocre voice. The themes in Folk may be progressive, but the music certainly isn't. And as Jewel found out, Folk won't getcha a lot of radio-play.

I think Folk, as with any album by a "singer", needs to be catchy and diverse. Catchy lyrics; catchy chording; and a variety of themes. John Prine has managed to stay fresh and interesting through four decades of singing/song-writing. Dylan did too, until his brain fried. Paul Simon had it up through Graceland; but hasn't found it since. Joan Baez had it for about two albums, but we tolerated that because she was against the war. When the war was finished, so was she.

But I digress. Mermaid Avenue (which is named for the street on which the Guthries lived) is a very good album (eight stars), but only if you're in the mood for Folk. There is a Mermaid Avenue 2, which I've not yet heard. If you want to rock-out with Wilco, or kill the Fascists with Billy, you might want to "try before you buy". But if you still think this genre has some new directions to explore, give this one a listen.