A collaborative follow-up to Wilco and Billy Bragg’s 1998/2000 Mermaid Avenue double-volume, in which previously unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics were adapted to new original music, will finally see the light of day next January via Rounder Records. As originally reported back in ’09, former Uncle Tupelo co-leader Jay Farrar joined My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Centro-matic’s Will Johnson, and Anders Parker for the forthcoming set, titled New Multitudes.
What’s more, the official Woody Centennial site reports (via American Songwriter) that his estate will honor what would have been the folk pioneer’s 100th birthday next year with yet another tribute record: Note of Hope, a 12-track compilation of songs adapted from archival Guthrie writings by bassist Rob Wasserman with Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Nellie McKay, Tom Morello, Pete Seeger, Madeleine Peyroux, Van Dyke Parks, and others.
Meanwhile, Mermaid Avenue will get the box-set treatment — composed of both previous volumes, an outtakes disc, and the making-of documentary Man In The Sand — next spring. You can hear samples of Note of Hope (due in September) here and check out the tracklist along with a stream of Jackson Browne’s cut, “You Know the Night,” below.
Note of Hope
01. “The Note Of Hope” – Van Dyke Parks
02. “Wild Card In The Hole” – Madeleine Peyroux
03. “Ease My Revolutionary Mind” – Tom Morello
04. “The Debt I Owe” – Lou Reed
05. “Union Love Juice” – Michael Franti
06. “Peace Pin Boogie” – Kurt Elling
07. “Voice” – Ani DiFranco
08. “I Heard A Man Talking” – Studs Terkel
09. “Old Folks” – Nellie Mckay
10. “On The High Lonesome” – Chris Whitley
11. “There’s A Feeling In Music” – Pete Seeger & Tony Trischka
12. “You Know The Night” – Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne – “You Know The Night”