Music: American Roots

A ghost, a band, a troubadour. Easily the strangest co-op project ever, and easily one of the finest and most evocative albums of the year. British socialist and folkie Billy Bragg was given unprecedented access to Woody Guthrie's unrecorded lyrics. Teaming up with alt-country band Wilco and quoting from more than 50 years of country, folk, and rock music, Billy and company bring Guthrie's politics, poetry, and morality to the end of the century and prove he's as necessary now as ever. --Tod Nelson

Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II finds Billy Bragg & Wilco setting Woody Guthrie's words to their own music a second time. The result is more sonically diverse than the first installment, but just as rewarding. With guests Natalie Merchant and bluesman Corey Harris lending their voices to this new-century hootenanny, this 15-song disc manages to capture the collective spirit of both IWW and the WTO times. Woody would've been proud of the initial collection; he'd be prouder still of this one. --Steven Stolder

Miles Davis, trumpet ; Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, alto saxophone (except #3) ; John Coltrane, tenor saxophone ; Wynton Kelly, piano (#2) ; Bill Evans, piano (all others) ; Paul Chambers, bass ; Jimmy Cobb, drums. Event Recorded Mar. 2 and Apr. 22, 1959, at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City. Note Originally released as Columbia CL 1355 (except #6). Compact disc. Program notes, by Bill Evans from the original LP, and Robert Palmer (14 p. : ill.) inserted in container.