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Wilco and Billy Bragg’s Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions will get an expanded edition from Craft Recordings on Dec. 11. The seven-LP set, which also includes a 7-inch, adds 18 recordings: 17 alternate takes and demos, plus a Woody Guthrie home tape of “Hesitating Beauty.”
Wilco and Billy Bragg will release an expanded edition of Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions on Dec. 11, with Craft Recordings adding 18 recordings to the collection built around songs using unused Woody Guthrie lyrics. The new box set contains seven LPs and a 7-inch, extending the archive first assembled in 2012.
The expanded set adds 17 alternate takes and demos, along with a Woody Guthrie home tape of “Hesitating Beauty.” Those recordings broaden the existing collection, which brought together the first two Mermaid Avenue albums and 17 previously unreleased tracks issued as Vol. III.
According to the announcement reported by Stereogum, the new edition is scheduled for release through Craft Recordings on Dec. 11. The announcement identifies the format and additional material, but does not provide details about the individual alternate takes and demos or the circumstances in which Guthrie’s home tape was recorded.
The release follows a recent live performance of the original album. Wilco and Bragg performed Mermaid Avenue in full for the first time at Wilco’s Solid Sound festival in June, according to Stereogum. The new box set arrives as the project’s catalog and performance history receive renewed attention.
More Recordings From Mermaid Avenue
The expanded edition adds material to a collaboration that connected Wilco and Bragg with lyrics left unused by Woody Guthrie. For listeners, the 18 extra recordings offer additional versions and demos alongside the existing albums, as well as a home recording attributed to Guthrie.
The project also has a clear place in Wilco’s catalog: “California Stars,” one of its best-known songs and a regular part of the band’s live performances, originated on the 1998 album. The box set does not change the original releases, but it gives fans another way to hear work associated with the collaboration and its source material.
The recent full-album performance at Solid Sound and the upcoming archival release are separate developments. Together, they show renewed activity around Mermaid Avenue, while the announcement itself centers on the expanded recordings rather than a new studio collaboration.
Wilco Billy Bragg Mermaid Avenue vinyl box set
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From Two Albums to Seven LPs
The original Mermaid Avenue was released in 1998, when Wilco and English folksinger Billy Bragg set music to unused lyrics by Woody Guthrie. The project produced newly written songs based on those texts, including “California Stars.” Wilco and Bragg followed the album with Mermaid Ave. Vol. II in 2000.
In 2012, they issued Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, combining the first two volumes with 17 previously unreleased recordings collected as Vol. III. The forthcoming edition adds 18 more recordings to that package. Stereogum reports that the artists performed the original album from beginning to end at Solid Sound in June; the account describes it as their first time doing so.
Woody Guthrie unreleased recordings collection
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Release Details Still Pending
The announcement reported by Stereogum confirms the Dec. 11 release date, the seven-LP-and-7-inch format, and the number and broad types of added recordings. It does not specify the full track listing, the titles of the 17 alternate takes and demos, or how those recordings are divided across the set.
Pricing, edition size, packaging details, and ordering information are also not included in the supplied report. The description identifies a Guthrie “home tape” of “Hesitating Beauty,” but gives no further information about its recording date, provenance, or condition. Those points remain unconfirmed in the available material.
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Awaiting the Full Track Listing
The expanded box set is scheduled to arrive on Dec. 11 through Craft Recordings. Further details, including the complete track listing and purchasing information, would clarify how the additional recordings are arranged and what each format includes.
Until those details are published, the confirmed scope is limited to the announced configuration and 18 additional recordings. The next concrete milestone is the set’s release; no further performances or related projects are specified in the source report.
music demo and alternate takes collection
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Key Questions
When is the expanded Mermaid Avenue box set due?
Craft Recordings has scheduled it for Dec. 11. The source report does not specify a year.
What is included in the new edition?
The set comprises seven LPs and a 7-inch. It adds 18 recordings: 17 alternate takes and demos, plus a Woody Guthrie home tape of “Hesitating Beauty.”
How does it differ from the 2012 Complete Sessions set?
The 2012 collection combined the first two Mermaid Avenue albums with 17 previously unreleased recordings issued as Vol. III. The new edition adds 18 more recordings.
What is Mermaid Avenue?
It is a collaboration between Wilco and Billy Bragg that set unused Woody Guthrie lyrics to newly written songs. The first album came out in 1998, followed by Mermaid Ave. Vol. II in 2000.
Are the added tracks and ordering details available?
The report gives the number and general types of added recordings but does not include a full track listing, pricing, or ordering details.
Source: rss
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