Billy Bragg news

I'm really looking forward to hearing the new material. I've been a fan since the late '80s and interviewed him for "Don't Try This at Home"...

British singer/songwriter Billy Bragg has announced a March 19 release of his album Tooth & Nail, the first since 2008's acclaimed Mr. Love & Justice. It was produced by songwriter/producer Joe Henry and will be released via Cooking Vinyl.

Inspired by a fan's tweet referring to Bragg as "The Sherpa of Heartbreak," the album's twelve original tracks were written with an eye towards the personal rather than the political. 

"Most people, when they hear my name, think of polemical anthems born in struggle," says Bragg. "I often find myself having to remind people that I am also the Sherpa of Heartbreak, writing songs about the struggle to maintain our relationships with those we love the most." 

He adds, "It is fitting that Tooth & Nail should be my next release after the re-issue of the Billy Bragg & Wilco collaboration as, stylistically, it is the follow-up to Mermaid Avenue that I never made. "

The album was recorded live, with no overdubs, in five days—an approach not used by Bragg since his 1983 debut Life's a Riot With Spy Vs. Spy—at Joe Henry’s basement studio in Pasadena in 2012.

Bragg is on vocals and acoustic guitar along with noted musicians like Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar, Patrick Warren on keyboards, Jay Bellerose on drums and David Piltch on upright bass.

Bragg's North American tour kicks off in March. See below for a full list of tour dates.

Track listing for Tooth & Nail

1. January Song

2. No One Knows Nothing Anymore

3. Handyman Blues

4. I Ain't Got No Home

5. Swallow My Pride

6. Do Unto Others

7. Over You

8. Goodbye, Goodbye

9. There Will Be A Reckoning

10. Chasing Rainbows

11. Your Name On My Tongue

12. Tomorrow's Going To Be A Better Day

Billy Bragg North American Tour

3/23 – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO

3/24 – KiMo Theatre – Albuquerque, NM

3/26 – The Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ

3/28 – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA

3/29 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA

3/30 – Petaluma, CA – McNear's Mystic Theatre

4/02 – Aladdin Theatre – Portland, OR

4/03 – Neptune Theatre – Seattle, WA

4/04 – Alix Goolden Hall – Victoria, BC

4/05 – Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, BC

4/06 – Live at the Royal – Nelson, BC

4/08 – MacEwan Hall – Calgary, AB

4/09 – Orr Centre – Regina SK

4/10 – Garrick Centre – Winnipeg, MB 
4/12&13 – City Winery – Chicago, IL

4/15 – The Englert Theatre – Iowa City, IA

4/17 – The Belcourt Theatre – Nashville, TN

4/19 – Cat's Cradle – Carrboro, NC

4/20 – Keswick Theatre – Glensdale, PA

4/21 – Mountain Stage – Morgantown, WV

4/22 – Rams Head Theatre – Annapolis, MD

4/26 – State Theater – Ithaca, NY

4/27 – Town Hall – New York, NY

4/28 – Berklee Performance Center – Boston, MA

4/30 – The Southgate House Revival – Cincinnati, OH

5/01 – The Ark – Ann Arbor, MI