UPDATED: Wilco and Billy Bragg Announce Ambitious Mermaid Avenue Release

(*Just released project artwork.)

Wilco and Billy Bragg are set to release a Woody Guthrie tribute called Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions.  The ambitious four album set will mark the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s birthday. You may recall this musical  collaboration started when Woody's daughter Nora Guthrie and Billy Bragg met at a show in Central Park in New York, and as far back 1997 Wilco and Billy Bragg started recording old Woody Guthrie songs from archived recordings. This lead to the release of Mermaid Avenue.   And now there are four volumes, which will be released by Nonesuch Recordings.

From Billy Bragg's website:

"To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Woody’s birth, Nonesuch Records will be releasing ‘Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions’, a four disc set, comprising of remastered versions of Mermaid Avenue Volumes Iand II as well as a new collection of 17 songs from the original sessions,‘Mermaid Avenue Volume III’. The fourth disc will contain ‘Man in the Sand’,Kim Hopkins’ 1999 film, which documents the collaboration between Woody, Wilco and me," said Billy Bragg about the release.

This is just the latest in a string of recent Woody Guthrie tributes, which includes a museum and archive and some star-studded tribute compilations.  Although a firm release date has yet to be announced Woody’s birthday on July 14^th might be just the ticket.