Billy Bragg: Tooth & Nail

What's a reconstituted British folk-punker in his mid-50s to do? One answer is to embrace Americana and produce a fistful of songs that brim with his usual vim, vigour and vinegar. Billy Bragg is known for his political insight and occasional polemical swagger, but here he brings things a little closer to home and hearth. Produced between California and New York by Joe Henry (who apparently demanded first-take-only vocals from Bragg), Tooth & Nail references some of mid-life's usual crises: death, loss, regret. That Bragg takes things down a notch or two is good – a less strident delivery suits him across tracks as splendid as January Song , Swallow My Pride ("how can a man be strong if he can't even lift a telephone?") and the Springsteenesque There Will Be a Reckoning .
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Download: Handyman Blues, There Will Be a Reckoning, January Song