Billy Bragg - Tooth and Nail

Genre: American Folk, as played by an ageing British independent musician.Bragg started out as a punk, broke up his band, almost joined the Navy, but started busking on the streets instead. His music combines direct and relate-able storytelling with punchy hooks and inviting melodies. Also he is liberal as hell. This is the man the estate of Woody Guthrie chose to bring the great man's last unfinished songs to the public. The result was a well received collaboration with Indie Folk wunderkinds, Wilco.

Where would I have heard of it: Well it's Billy Bragg? He got a few singles on the British pop charts in the late 80s and early 90s, the most successful being the wonderfully silly "Sexulatiy" off Don't Trty This At Home. Never got much traction in the states though, possibly because of lines like

"The cities of Europe have burned before
and they may yet burn again,
and if they do, I hope you understand
that Washington will burn with them
Omaha will burn with them
Los Alamos will burn with them

But he's really just one of those people who are famous because he has had a long, critic friendly career. Imagine if the 10,000 maniacs had never had another hit, but were still putting out albums that just get better and better. More importantly, I think, he is beloved of musicians, and his fans include punk rockers and folk acts. I won't say his output is perfect, but he has more hits than misses and the hits are religious experiences. I heard of him from a name drop in Chixdiggit's song "Folks Are Gone" off their amazing From Scene to Shining Scene, which led me to pick up Bragg's Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, one of his first albums.

Anything of note: I don't have my physical copy of this yet. It's on the way from the amazon but I got it on the cloud, natch. Its fun to enjoy the convenience of new technologies while listening to songs about the possible hollowness of scientific inquiry.

Is it good: It is hard to describe how good Bragg is without sounding obsessive. what he does is extraordinarily simple. Spare instrumentation with an emphasis on vocals, but what is there is warm and full, providing pop hooks, exquisite playing, and jovial, thumping rhythms. The result is an intimate musical space, the closest thing I have heard in a recording to a session in a small, smoky pub. At the heart of this setting are Bragg's vocals: clever, kind songs about all the problems we face in the world that are beautifully sung with humor and sensitivity. As with all his good albums, there is nothing here I would add or subtract. this is the perfect form of these songs and listening to them is a joy. Bragg is now 56, certainly touch wiser than he was in 1977, but the energy he brings to his music has only improved. The more you listen to Bragg the more you want, and if he keeps making albums like this we will all be able to feed our ravenous habits for years to come. Buy this album. you will not be sorry.