Contents

Mermaid Avenue Vol. II

Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
Studio album by Billy Bragg and Wilco
Released	30 May 2000
Recorded	Boston, Chicago, and Dublin
Genre	Folk rock[1]
Length	49:47
Label	Elektra
Producer	Wilco, Billy Bragg, Grant Showbiz
Billy Bragg chronology
Reaching to the Converted (1999) Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000) England, Half-English (2001)
Wilco chronology
Summerteeth (1999) Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000) Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Billy Bragg & Wilco chronology
Mermaid Avenue (1998) Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000) Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions (2012)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Chicago Sun-Times	[4]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A−[5]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[1]
The Guardian	[6]
Pitchfork	6.3/10[7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Spin	7/10[11]

Mermaid Avenue Vol. II is a 2000 album of previously unheard lyrics written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie, put to music written and performed by British singer Billy Bragg and American band Wilco. It continues the project originally conceived by Guthrie's daughter, Nora Guthrie which resulted in the release of Mermaid Avenue in 1998. Both volumes were collected in a 2012 box set along with volume three as Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions.

Track 9 "Blood of the Lamb" is Woody's overhaul of an 1878 gospel music standard "Are You Washed in the Blood?" written by Elisha A. Hoffman.^[12]

Man in the Sand, a documentary about the collaboration between Bragg and Wilco, was released in 1999.

Track listing[edit]

Personnel[edit]

• Billy Bragg – vocal, guitar, resonator guitar
• Jay Bennett – guitar, backing vocal, slide guitar, shaker, saw, 12 string guitar, B3 organ, Leslie pedals, Farfisa organ, mandolin, piano, tambourine, electric sitar, soloing, nylon string guitar, banjo, harmonica, drums, upright bass, Delayaphone, bells
• Ken Coomer – drums, tape box, tambourine, percussion, backing vocal, hollering, kick drum, gas heater
• John Stirratt – bass, backing vocal, claps, upright bass, baritone guitar
• Jeff Tweedy – vocal, guitar, clapping, Mellotron, cabasa, 12 string guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, Wurlitzer

Additional musicians

• Mike Henry – backing vocal on "My Flying Saucer"
• Natalie Merchant – guest lead vocal on "I Was Born"
• Leroy Bach – piano on "Remember The Mountain Bed"
• Corey Harris – guest lead vocal and acoustic guitar on "Against Th' Law"
• Eliza Carthy – violin on "Joe DiMaggio Has Done It Again"

Charts[edit]

See also[edit]

• Woody Guthrie Foundation
• Mermaid Avenue (1998)
• Man in the Sand (1999)
• Wonder Wheel (2006)
• The Works (2008)
• Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah (2006)
• New Multitudes (2012)
• Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions (2012)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Nora Guthrie interview Archived 24 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Mermaid Avenue Vol. IIatMetacritic