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Billy Bragg & Wilco
Mermaid Avenue
Recorded at KingSize Sounds in Chicago and Windmill Lane Studios
in Dublin.
Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, opened up Woody's archive of 5,000
sets of lyrics to Billy Bragg and Wilco with the intent of making
a record with their music from the 1990's with her father's words
from decades earlier. The results garnered a Grammy nomination for
folk record of the year.
We (Wilco) had been on the road for almost 2 years and were exhausted.
And, it was understood that this was going to be my last work with
them so things were...well, different. Still, it was one of the
honors of my life to work on this record.
I often record my parts blind, that is, I record while listening
to the track for the first time to see what inspires me. While doing
this on one of the Mermaid sessions I was struck by the emotional
depth of the words. Afterwards I began talking to Jeff (Wilco's
singer) about what was going on in his life, assuming the lyrics
were autobiographical to a degree. Jeff replied that Woody Guthrie
had written those lyrics in the 1940's!
To me, that speaks equally of Woody's timeless lyrics and Jeff's
heartfelt performance. An honor, indeed.
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