The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration continues on April 21st, as the Guthrie estate will follow up last week’s New Multitudes and last fall’s Note of Hope tribute with Wilco and Billy Bragg’s Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions. In addition to two volumes of previously released music put to Guthrie lyrics and the making-of documentary Man in the Sand, the set contains a third volume comprised of 17 previously unreleased cuts, available separately in digital formats and bundled with the full set on Record Store Day.
While most of these songs will be new to our ears, a few have been performed live or streamed online by Wilco in the past. In fact, “The Jolly Banker” has been shared by the band twice in recent memory: as a fundraiser for the Guthrie archives back in 2009 and as a free stream in recognition of the tune’s prescient subject matter last fall. It’s a great, inspired take, so let’s revisit the track below alongside the tracklist for the latest volume:
Mermaid Avenue: Volume III
01. Bugeye Jim
02. When The Roses Bloom Again
03. Gotta Work
04. My Thirty Thousand
05. Ought To Be Satisfied Now
06. Listening To The Wind That Blows
07. Go Down To The Water
08. Chain Of Broken Hearts
09. Jailcell Blues
10. Don’t You Marry
11. Give Me A Nail
12. The Jolly Banker
13. Union Prayer
14. Be Kind To The Boy On The Road
15. Ain’ta Gonna Grieve
16. Tea Bag Blues
17. I’m Out To Get
“The Jolly Banker” – Wilco/Guthrie