Billy Bragg: "Bloke on Bloke" for Record Store Day

Seven songs from Billy Bragg's sessions for his William Bloke album will be released on vinyl for Record Store Day (April 20). It's a mix of tracks from the original album and the expanded reissue. Fans of The Smiths will like the inclusion of Never Had No One Ever from the tribute album The Smiths Is Dead.

1200 copies on orange and blue split effect vinyl. No bonus points for guessing the album's title reference.

1. The Boy Done Good
2. Qualifications
3. Sugardaddy (Smokey Gets In Your Ears Mix)
4. Never Had No One Ever
5. Sugardubby
6. Rule Nor Reason
7. Thatcherites

» billybragg.co.uk

Colin Robinson: Mixcloud of his 5th "Answers On A Postcard" show on Otto Radio

English avant-garde musician Colin Robinson (Jumble Hole Clough, Churn Milk Joan, Big Block 454) broadcasted the 5th episode of his monthly Answers On A Postcard show on Otto Radio on May 1st. Missed it? It is now on Mixcloud:

The show starts with The Bonzo Dog Band and ends with Apache Indian. I may have blown my chance of a Knighthood.

Cover Me: A New England

Watch the original promo video for Kirsty MacColl's take on the Billy Bragg classic A New England. Bragg wrote two extra verses for this one.

» kirstymaccoll.com
» billybragg.co.uk

Billy Bragg: "Pass It On" video

Singer and activist Billy Bragg has posted a video for Pass It On, a track from his new album The Million Things That Never Happened, out on October 8th via Cooking Vinyl.

Bragg explains: "I read somewhere that the second most googled thing after pornography is ancestry. People want to know where they come from, why they were born, where they were born. You can get facts from the web, but details are priceless and can often only be learned orally from relatives. Yet too many of us rue the fact that we are left to piece together family stories from fragments we recall because we never asked our elders those questions".

Billy Bragg: "Ten Mysterious Photos That Can't Be Explained" video

Singer and activist Billy Bragg has posted a video for Ten Mysterious Photos That Can't Be Explained, a final track from his new album The Million Things That Never Happened, out on October 8th via Cooking Vinyl. It is a song about online facts and fakes, with an instantly hummable classic pop melody. To show he is a smart man he inserted a the shout out to the classic George Orwell novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

Billy Bragg: new album "The Million Things That Never Happened" in October

Singer and activist Billy Bragg will release his tenth studio album, The Million Things That Never Happened, on October 8th via Cooking Vinyl. He has made a video for the lead single, I Will Be Your Shield, a melancholic piano ballad. Bragg explains: "To me, 'I Will Be Your Shield' is the heart and soul of the album. I’ve come to the conclusion that empathy is the currency of music – that our job as songwriters is to help people come to terms with their feelings by offering them examples of how others may have dealt with a situation similar to that in which the listener finds themselves. After what we’ve all been through, the idea of being a shield - physically, emotionally, psychologically - resonates beyond the pandemic".

A special online concert will be broadcasted on September 9th. He will be joined on stage by the musicians who play on the new album: Romeo Stodart (guitar), Michele Stodart (bass), Darren Beckett (drums), Nick Pynn (lap steel guitar, violin) and Jack Valero (guitar). The proceeds will be donated to the Music Venue Trust, an organisation that set up to save grass roots venues in the UK.

Cover Me: Sunday Morning

Watch the Courtney Barnett and Billy Bragg tackle the Velvet Underground, classic Sunday Morning, live for RocKwizTV on May 5, 2014.

» courtneybarnett.com.au
» billybragg.co.uk

Quiet Desperation 2.0 - Another Brexit Playlist

"Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way". Some comfort from another playlist while the UK is struggling to make sense of the whole Brexit fuck up. Whatever happens, the music remains. In alphabetical order: Billy Bragg, Blur, Fischer-Z, Joy Division, Madness, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, The Kinks, The Who.

The first Quiet Desperation playlist can be found here.

R.E.M. / Bingo Hand Job: "Live at The Borderline" for Record Store Day

In 1991 R.E.M. performed two shows at The Borderline in London, flying under the radar as Bingo Hand Job. The March 15 show was recorded and made available soon afterwards on bootlegs. It gets its first official released as a 2LP For Record Store Day. The show is mainly acoustic and they were joined on stage by Billy Bragg, Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Holsapple.

Billy Bragg: tour dates

UK Singer-songwriter Billy Bragg wraps up 2010 with a show in Glasgow. He returns to the road in Febuary in that same city, before heading to Northern Ireland to play at the Nashville Songwriters Festival in Belfast. He heads out to New York in March for three nights at the City Winery in NYC as part of "At Home in The City" series.

UK dates:

• 12/31 Concert in the Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland
• 02/18 Glasgow - Glasgow, Scotland
• 02/23 Nashville Songwriters Festival (Solo Concert), Belfast, Northern Ireland
• 02/24 Nashville Songwriters Festival (In the Round Concert), Belfast, Northern Ireland
• 02/24 Nashville Songwriters Festival (Workshop), Belfast, Northern Ireland

NYC run:

• 03/29 City Winery, New York, NY
• 03/30 City Winery, New York, NY
• 03/31 City Winery, New York, NY

» billybragg.co.uk

Harvest Of Hope Fest in St. Augustine, FL - March 12-14

The second edition Harvest Of Hope Fest will be held at St. John's Fairgrounds in St. Augustine, FL - March 12-14. Over 70 acts have been confirmed for a good cause. Billy Bragg, Twin Tigers and Dead Confederate are among the performers:

The second annual fundrasier Harvest of Hope Foundation Music and Arts Festival, March 12-14th, 2010, located at the St. Johns County Fairgrounds in St. Augustine, Florida features a three day, multiple stage alternative music festival that is unique in many ways, but mostly because it is all to benefit and raise awareness for nonprofit charity Harvest of Hope Foundation.

The Harvest of Hope Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides financial, educational, and service oriented aid to migrant farm workers all over the country. The event emphasizes on being not only entertaining, but educational, family friendly and environmentally conscience. The HOH Fest showcases not only a large group of musicians who are donating much of their time and performances to the cause but will also showcase a variety of progressive artists, local vendors and a nonprofit “educational center” that will help raise awareness for the many issues surrounding Migrant Farmworkers and their families.

» harvestofhopefest.com
» harvestofhope.net

Billy Bragg: on tour in Belgium and the UK

Singer-songwriter Billy Bragg has announced a string of dates in Belgium and two shows in the UK

• 03/06 University of London Union, London, UK
  (Searchlight/Hope Not Hate event to highlight far-right BNP in Barking and Dagenham)
• 05/19 Dendermonde, Belgium
• 05/20 Roeselare, Belgium
• 05/21 Eeklo, Belgium
• 05/22 Beveren, Belgium
• 05/23 Oostende, Belgium
• 08/27 Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Shrewsbury, UK

» billybragg.co.uk
» myspace.com/billybragg

HCTF review of Mr Love & Justice.

Billy Bragg: Europe, USA and back to the UK & Ireland

Billy Bragg keeps him self busy for the rest of the year:

European dates:

• 06/28 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
  Guardian Tent (1.30pm, 30 minutes acoustic)
  Jazz World Stage (7.45pm, with Imagined Village)
• 06/29 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival - Leftfield Tent
• 07/05 Rudolstadt, Germany - TFF Rudolstadt (solo and w/ Imagined Village)
• 07/19 Wareham, England - Camp Bestival (w/ Imagined Village)
• 07/20 Wareham, England - Camp Bestival (Solo headline)
• 08/01 Cambridge, England - Cambridge Folk Festival (Solo)
• 08/02 Cambridge, England - Cambridge Folk Festival (w/ Imagined Village)
• 08/03 Dranouter, Belgium - Dranouter Folk Festival
• 09/25 Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
• 09/26 Antwerp, Belgium - Arenburg Schouwburg
• 09/28 Frankfurt, Germany - Batschkapp Festival
• 09/29 Cologne, Germany - E-Werk
• 10/03 Bochum, Germany - Century of Song Festival (Billy Bragg, Roseanne Cash, Joe Henry & Friends)
• 10/05 Bochum, Germany - Century of Song Festival (Billy Bragg, Rosanne Cash, Joe Henry & Friends)

USA tour dates:

• 10/17 State College, PA, USA - The State Theatre
• 10/18 Ithaca, NY, USA - State Theatre
• 10/19 West Long Branch, NJ, USA - Monmouth University
• 10/21 Boston, MA, USA - Somerville Theatre
• 10/22 Boston, MA, USA - Somerville Theatre
• 10/23 Lebanon, NH, USA - Lebanon Opera House
• 10/24 Philadelphia, PA, USA - Keswick Theater
• 10/27 Washington, DC, USA - 9:30 Club
• 10/28 Baltimore, MD, USA - Rams Head Live
• 10/29 Charlottesville, VA, USA - Paramount Theater
• 10/30 Norfolk, VA, USA - Attucks Theater
• 11/01 Durham, NC, USA - Duke University
• 11/02 Asheville, NC, USA - Orange Peel

UK & Ireland:

• 11/19 Nottingham, England - Rock City
• 11/20 Leeds, England - Leeds Academy
• 11/21 Northampton, England - Royal & Derngate
• 11/22 Treorci, Wales - Parc and Dare
• 11/24 Exeter, England - Great Hall
• 11/25 Manchester, England - Bridgewater Hall
• 11/26 Ipswich, England - Corn Exchange
• 11/28 St Albans, England - Arena
• 11/29 Hastings, England - White Rock Theatre
• 11/30 Southampton, England - Guildhall
• 11/03 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Empire Music Hall
• 11/04 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
• 11/08 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire

» billybragg.co.uk
» myspace.com/billybragg

HCTF review of Mr Love & Justice.

Billy Bragg: Mr Love & Justice

It's been seven years since the last Billy Bragg album. Mr Love & Justice is a mixed bag of love songs and politics. Recorded in 2006 and 2007 there is still the familia guitar stutter in songs like Something Happened, with his trusty companions knows as The Blokes. Billy may have slowed down his material over the years - the title track sounds a lot like Elvis Costello, but he still can point an accusing finger in O Freedom.

Mr Love & Justice is an album that thrives on lesser known percussion instruments like the hang drum, the reco reco and cajón. Mr. Bragg can't get away from his Englishness, but he will be damned if he doesn't try. More power to him, the world needs singers who are not afraid to speak up.

Mr Love & Justice is released in the UK by Cooking Vinyl on 3 March 2008 and by Anti- in North America on 22 April. Shock Records is releasing the album in Australia and New Zealand. Also available as a deluxe 2CD with all the songs sung by a solo Billy. The single I Keep Faith is currently on his MySpace site, with backup vocals from Robert Wyatt.

Billy Bragg: download free Salisbury City Hall show with Ian McLagan

Download a complete Billy Bragg show for no pounds, euros, yens or dollars. Recorded live at Salisbury City Hall in June 2006. Keyboard wiz Ian McLagan came out to play too.

» I Want My MP3s!
» billybragg.co.uk

Billy Bragg: new album "Mr Love & Justice", European tour dates

Billy Bragg, the one-man army with a guitar, releases his new album Mr Love & Justice on 3 March.

Tracks:

1. I Keep Faith
2. I Almost Killed You
3. M For Me
4. The Beach is Free
5. Sing Their Souls Back Home
6. You Make Me Brave
7. Something Happened
8. Mr. Love & Justice
9. If You Ever Leave
10. O Freedom
11. The Johnny Carcinogenic Show
12. Farm Boy

He is on tour in April:

• 03/04 Roundhouse, London, UK
04/11 Novafest '08, Oslo, Norway (venue to be confirmed)
• 04/12 Sodra Teatern, Stockholm, Sweden
• 04/14 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• 04/15 Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany
• 04/16 Passionkirche, Berlin, Germany
• 04/24 Colston Hall, Bristol, UK
• 04/25 Town Hall, Birmingham, UK
• 04/27 ABC, Glasgow, UK
• 04/29 The Sage, Gateshead, UK
• 04/30 City Hall, Sheffield, UK
• 05/02 Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, UK
• 05/03 Hexagon, Reading, UK

MP3: Billy Bragg - Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards

» billybragg.co.uk