More 'Mermaid Avenue' From Bragg & Wilco

11/19/1998 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(11/19/98, 12 p.m. PST) - For those who can't get enough of Mermaid Avenue--the collaborative effort featuring Billy Bragg and Wilco providing music for previously-unreleased song lyrics by Woody Guthrie--Elektra Entertainment has released the Mermaid Avenue Bonus EP. The four-song EP is available free with the purchase of Mermaid Avenue at any of the Coalition Of Independent Music Stores and Newbury Comics outlets.

The EP features a live version of "California Stars," recorded live on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, a Jeff Tweedy solo version of "At My Window Sad And Lonely," and two previously-unreleased tracks, "My Thirty Thousand" and "Bugeye Jim." The EP is available while supplies last.

This may not be the last of the Guthrie material by Bragg and Wilco. Bragg and Wilco recorded 40 tracks during the Mermaid Avenue sessions, and another full album will likely be released in 1999, according to Bragg. According to an Elektra Entertainment spokesman, it's just a matter of scheduling, as Wilco also has an album due next year.

Bragg continues to promote the album. On Dec. 3, he is scheduled to appear on Politically Incorrect, while he will turn up on the Late Show With David Letterman, with special guest Natalie Merchant, on Dec. 15.

A Mermaid Avenue feature is up now on myLAUNCH. A separate Billy Bragg feature and Wilco feature are also available in the myLAUNCH archives.