Wilco

Mermaid Avenue

A fitting tribute

Review Score:

(10/10)
Do not be scared off by the premise of the project: a vaguely country-rock band and a Scottish folksinger reviving ancient Woody Guthrie lyrics. First of all, none of those descriptions do their discriptee justice; Wilco's one of the strongest songwriting groups in America today with the musical skills to back it up, Billy Bragg's a gifted balladeer and a brilliant folk-rocker and Woody Guthrie...well, that name ought to speak for itself by belonging to one of the greatest songwriters ever, author of a vast catalogue of topical, witty and beautiful songs that celebrate people, life, children and America in a way that has rarely been matched. Apparently, Woody's daughter Nora approached Wilco and Bragg about the possibility of collaborating to write music and record some of the thousands of songs that Woody wrote but never recorded. The result is a very impressive album. Maybe the key is that the artists, while certainly aware of Guthrie's incredible contributions, don't spend the album revering Guthrie, wringing their hands over being worthy of such a project. Wilco and Bragg jump right in and immediately get their hands dirty, opening with a song that's confusing and ribald but playing and hollering along with so much energy it will literally make you smile. Most of the Woody Guthrie releases now in print tend to focus on his political ballads and protest songs, so its fortunate that Wilco and Bragg chose lyrics that reflected a more personal side of Guthrie: love songs, songs about his children, songs lusting after Ingrid Bergman...Woody would have been unlikely to record such autobiographical songs, and its fortunate that someone did, leaving no doubt that Woody was more than just a powerful voice for others but a brilliant, introspective artist as well. Musically, the album's much like Wilco's "Being There," heavy on organ and acoustic guitar, with many large swells of sound. This might sound a little offensive to some, but this isn't a Woody replica, it's a modern band making these songs their own. The arrangements are straightforward and layered, which results in a rich, warm sound. Bragg's brogue works perfectly as a vehicle for Guthrie's rough lyrics, and Jeff Tweedy's boyish drawl lends an innocence and charm to the love songs that couldn't even be achieved by Guthrie. Woody was known to pass his guitars along to aspiring musicians to help them along; even better that he should pass along some songs not only to Wilco and Bragg, but through them, to the rest of us as well. This is probably more of a Wilco album than anything else, but with even greater-than-normal lyrics, and it's apparent how much Tweedy has taken from the classic understatement of Guthrie. Cannot recommend this album enough.

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