Five years ago, Billy Bragg–the British songwriter who knew years ago that punk and folk were not all that far apart–got a call from Nora Guthrie about putting music to the unpublished lyrics of her late father, Woody. With the help of local heroes Wilco, Bragg recorded two revelatory albums of Guthrie material; the second, “Mermaid Avenue Volume Two,” brings Bragg and his band, The Blokes, to Park West at 9 p.m. Saturday (322 W. Armitage Ave.). $23.50. 773-929-5959.
Q: You probably won’t remember this, but we first met back in 1985 when you played the Cubby Bear.
A: I remember the Cubby Bear, because they had no doors on the toilets in the bathrooms. The first time I was there, I was just about to go on and I was washing my hands in the wash basin and some guy who was sitting on the john said, “Hey! Billy Bragg!” and put his hand up for me to shake. And I said, “I’m sorry, mate. I’m from England” and left him there.
Q: The songs on the first “Mermaid Avenue” showed us sides of Woody Guthrie that the history books rarely examine. Did you ever think, “Well, let’s go even further the second time around”?
A: We kind of tended to leave the darker songs off of “Volume One,” because we were trying to convince people about the project. Stuff like “Feed of Man” and “Hot Rod Hotel” and “All You Fascists” … we thought we’d better draw people in before we drop those on ’em.
Q: As you get back to writing your own material, are there skills that you’ve brought back with you from this project?
A: Most certainly. I talked to somebody about that today. We’ve demo-ed some new stuff and the way I’m approaching it now with my band the Blokes . is very reminiscent of the way I worked with Wilco: The sort of give-and-take on the songs; sitting down in a semi-circle and playing them together.
Q: Since your last visit to our fair country, we’ve seen massive demonstrations against the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. For someone as politically minded as yourself, that must have been quite exciting.
A: I’m very much in favor of that kind of demonstration. I don’t think there’s much capital to be made out of smashing up McDonalds. Storming a burger stand is not the same as storming the Winter Palace. I’m worried that we do get distracted in that. But stopping an intergovernmental conference and exposing the WTO for the cartel that it is, I think that’s pretty important.
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