Billy Bragg 'Mr. Love & Justice' solo UK touradded: 7 Feb 2008
Billy Bragg, the great English performer and songwriter, plays at London's legendary Roundhouse on Tuesday 4th March 2008 – a show that celebrates the release of his new album, 'Mr. Love & Justice', on Monday 3rd March. The concert comes as the prelude to a major seven-date UK tour starting in April.
Tickets for the Roundhouse cost £18.00 each and are available from the venue box office on 0870 389 1846 and www.roundhouse.org.uk.
Billy will perform solo on all the dates, including the Roundhouse. Tickets are priced at £16.00 for the rest of the shows.
The full tour and box office details are:
24.04.08 BRISTOL COLSTON HALL (0117 9223686 / www.colstonhall.org).
25.04.08 BIRMINGHAM TOWN HALL (0121 780 3333 / www.thsh.co.uk)
27.04.08 GLASGOW ABC (08448 440444 / www.abcglasgow.com).
29.04.08 GATESHEAD THE SAGE (0191 443 4661 / www.thesagegateshead.org)
30.04.08 SHEFFIELD CITY HALL (0114 2789 789 / www.sheffieldboxoffice.com)
02.05.08 LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL (0151 709 3789 / www.liverpoolphil.com)
03.05.08 READING HEXAGON (0118 960 6060 / www.readingarts.com)
04.05.08 LINCOLN ENGINE SHED (0871 424 4555 / www.engineshed.co.uk)
The 12-track new album has been produced by Grant Showbiz and features The Blokes, comprising the celebrated Ian McLagan - of Small Faces, Bob Dylan, The Faces and Rolling Stones fame - on Hammond organ and piano, together with Ben Mandelson (lap steel guitar and bouzouki); Lu Edmonds (electric guitar and vocals); Martyn Barker (drums) and Simon Edwards (bass). A limited edition solo version of the album will be given away free with initial copies of the album.
They are joined by the legendary Robert Wyatt, the guest vocalist on a track called 'I Keep Faith' recorded in South Thoresby, Lincolnshire. The collaboration came about when Bragg, in search of fresh rhubarb for a crumble, was in nearby Louth where he met Wyatt who lives in the town. "I hadn't seen him since Red Wedge (the 1986 Labour Party youth vote initiative)," says Bragg. "He found me some rhubarb and then came along to the recording session and sang beautiful vocals to the chorus of 'I Keep Faith' – it was like angels singing!"
Full track listing for 'Mr. Love & Justice' is:
I Keep Faith
I Almost Killed You
M For Me
The Beach is Free
Sing Their Souls Back Home
You Make Me Brave
Something Happened
Mr. Love & Justice
If You Ever Leave
O Freedom
The Johnny Carcinogenic Show
Farm Boy
Bragg has been recently championed by a new generation of musicians. The Nationwide Mercury Prize-shortlisted Hard-Fi, for instance, invited Billy to support them for six nights at London's Brixton Academy in May last year. The band later covered Bragg's 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' for a BBC Radio One session while Kate Nash performed 'A New England' with Billy at London's Union Chapel for a show in aid of the Mencap charity last month. Bragg was also presented with Q magazine's prestigious 'Classic Songwriter' award by KT Tunstall in October 2007.
Among Bragg's recent initiatives is the creation of 'Jail Guitar Doors' which aims to buy instruments as part of the rehabilitation process for prisoners in UK jails. The initiative hit the headlines in July 2007 when Mick Jones, the esteemed guitarist and co-founder of The Clash, joined Billy for a gig at Wormwood Scrubs prison in West London. The Enemy – recently voted Best New Act in the 2007 Q Awards – are also contributing their services to Jail Guitar Doors. Says Tom Clarke, the band's vocalist and guitarist: "I'm with Billy Bragg's thing. It really helps with rehabilitation, you know. Eighty per cent of prisoners who go through this scheme don't re-offend. Fact." For more information, see www.jailguitardoors.org.uk.
www.cookingvinyl.com / www.billybragg.co.uk / www.jailguitardoors.org.uk