{"product_id":"billy-bragg-wilco-mermaid-avenue-2lp","title":"Billy Bragg \u0026 Wilco - Mermaid Avenue [2LP]","description":"\u003cp\u003eMermaid Avenue, the 1998 meeting of Billy Bragg, Wilco and the unheard words of Woody Guthrie, returns as a 180-gram double LP.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe project began when Guthrie's daughter Nora invited Bragg to set music to some of the more than a thousand lyrics her father left behind. Bragg brought in Wilco, then between Being There and Summerteeth, and the result plays like a conversation across half a century, with Guthrie's words sounding startlingly alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJeff Tweedy's California Stars is the gentle, starlit heart of the record, a song that has long since outgrown the album. Bragg answers with the ramshackle charm of Walt Whitman's Niece and Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, where Natalie Merchant adds backing vocals. Hesitating Beauty shows how easily Guthrie's playful romance fits Wilco's loose, rootsy swing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCorey Harris adds lap steel and guitar, and the whole thing has the relaxed feel of friends passing songs around a room. The album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album and went on to become one of the most loved records in either act's catalogue.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWarm, funny, political and tender all at once, it remains a beautiful bridge between American folk history and alternative rock, and a record that rewards listening from start to finish.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alliance Entertainment","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57188215292209,"sku":"888072791084","price":45.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0704\/2026\/7313\/files\/Billy_Bragg_Wilco-Mermaid_Avenue_2LP_0b8e4d1f-9178-4ada-8b6d-d54e005a344f.jpg?v=1793291655","url":"https:\/\/vinyl.com\/products\/billy-bragg-wilco-mermaid-avenue-2lp","provider":"Vinyl.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}