In 1997, Wilco’s double album Being There became a fundamental pivot for the Chicago band in a decade filled with triumphs. Twenty-five years later, those songs live on in the band’s live shows, even though in the studio Wilco have traveled to a very different place. The evidence lies on Cruel Country, the band’s second […]
Tag: Billy Bragg
Lefty troubadour Billy Bragg looks “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” in a three-night Chicago stand
With his instantly recognizable voice—stark, blustery, and heartfelt—Billy Bragg has always had a no-frills musical style. His innovativeness manifests mostly in his career path. Also a historian and lefty activist, for the past two decades Bragg has often worn all of his hats at once, whether re-creating unfinished Woody Guthrie songs in collaboration with Wilco, […]
The protest songs that drove the Wobblies a century ago are still lighting fires
Labor firebrand Joe Hill wrote some of the most enduring anthems in the IWW’s Little Red Songbook—and today’s activists carry on his legacy.
On Riot Fest’s final day, pretty much everybody had an opinion about Weezer
Other Sunday favorites at the festival included Patti Smith, Billy Bragg, the Cure, Chumped, and Cheap Trick.
A Riot Fest flowchart
Tell us which headliner you’re most pumped to see, and our Riot Fest flowchart will tell you who else to catch.
Emptying the vault: Billy Bragg and Wilco
Nonesuch reissues the two volumes of Billy Bragg and Wilco’s Woody Guthrie project, Mermaid Avenue, with a third disc of previously unissued material.
The five best covers of “The Tracks of My Tears”
The five best takes on Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ “The Tracks of My Tears”
Billy Bragg’s class credentials
Billy Bragg plays for the Queen and her most subject subjects.