Billy Bragg & Wilco - Inside Track #6

UK's Brighest folk star Jesse Quin discusses a forgotten track ('One by One') from his favourite album, Billy Bragg & Wilco's 'Mermaid Avenue Vol. 1', exclusively for FreshDeerMeat.com....

As one of the UK's most exciting new folk talents, Jesse Quin is following quickly in the footsteps of Johnny Flynn, Mumford & Sons and Alessi's Ark in planting the folk revival flag firmly in the rain-soaked soil of London Town. Alongside his group The Mets, Quin's relentless gigging and unquestionable knack for penning sprightly, melodious chunks of nu-folk exuberance have earned him a reputation as folk music's 'most-likely-to'.

Before he lassoes the mainstream entirely Jesse kindly volunteered to pen a special edition of FDM.com's 'Inside Tracks' column, discussing the merit of one of his favourite album's lost tracks. With Inside Tracks #6 he talks us through the impact of 'One By One' from Billy Bragg & Wilco's album 'Mermaid Avenue Vol.1'.

Artist: Billy Bragg & Wilco

Album: Mermaid Avenue Vol. I

Song: 'One By One'

Background to the album: Well, I guess everybody knows this record. Everybody loves it. Sorry not to pick something more up to date and cool by the way but this was the first song that came to mind and I'm also crazy about it.

The way I heard it was that in 1995 Nora Guthrie got in touch with Billy Bragg with a big stack of lyrics that Woody Guthrie left behind after he died and asked him whether he might be able to use them to make into some new songs. Of course he accepted. Possibly knowing that he was a little too British to truly do them justice he in turn got in touch with Wilco to see if they would help by filling the role of backing band and co-writers. Jeff Tweedy sings on quite a few numbers on the final recordings as well. Billy Bragg ain't proud. You have to like that. Although, I really love some of the songs he sings just as much as the Tweedy ones. The album itself is like a Beatles record in the way that it jumps from loud to quiet and happy to sad. I guess that's like all great records. I think the album was named after the street Guthrie used to live on. It was released in 1998...

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