‘A lot of people don’t get as much attention as polar bears’ — Billy Bragg

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Billy Bragg
Jack Singer Concert Hall
Wednesday, November 25 - Wednesday, November 25

More in: Rock / Pop

Fans of British troubadour Billy Bragg won’t be surprised to see that Bragg won’t be using his upcoming concert at the Jack Singer Concert Hall to peddle a brand new album. While most musical acts are encouraged to hit the road when their record label has some product to promote, Bragg doesn’t need an excuse to connect with his people. It’s been over a year-and-a-half since Bragg released his last album, Mr. Love and Justice, though the lag between records is hardly an oddity — in his 25-year career, Bragg has frequently left several years between studio albums. As it is, Bragg would much rather be up onstage than in a studio anyway.

“The live shows are my job — that’s what I do for a living,” he says. “I’m certainly a better live performer than an album maker. That’s why my early albums were always live, just that raw Billy Bragg thing. I just like the opportunity for the edginess that comes from playing live. Not necessarily edgy in the dramatic sense, but just that it could change at any time. You’re on the high wire; some nights it might veer off in a particular direction.”

Bragg’s preference for the immediacy of the live show is far from shocking. With his songwriting pulling from both folk and punk rock traditions, his music begs for both the energy and intimacy that comes with an audience. Bragg’s penchant for writing topical songs and addressing social and political issues also makes his live show (and increasingly, MP3 singles) a good fit. While he hasn’t been gearing up for a new album, Bragg has been diligently working on a project that takes his musical need for human connection a step further. Jail Guitar Doors (named after a Clash song) is an initiative that sees Bragg and other musicians bringing guitars to prison inmates and teaching them to play music. In addition to empowering the inmates, Bragg used the program as an opportunity to reunite and record with The Clash’s Topper Headon and Mick Jones as part of a film documentary about the project.

“If you understand that a musical instrument, and particularly guitar on account of its portability, can help you for a moment to escape from whatever it is that is bugging you, then you understand why having a guitar in a prison situation would be a really good thing to have,” Bragg says. “Our hope for the program is that when they leave prison — the skills that they’ve learned are not going to get them a job in the music industry, because that’s a totally different thing — but if they can find a guitar when they get out, it will help them to process the frustrations and problems that they have in a non-confrontational way. And I know that, because that’s what I do. That’s why I write songs.”

Of course, he also writes songs to get a message across, to share his ideas on love and especially on politics. While Bragg refuses to label Jail Guitar Doors as a political project, he does admit that when it comes to his work, he prefers to focus on the small-scale, rather than trying to fight with Bono or Bob Geldof for headlines. After all, that’s what makes him uniquely Billy Bragg.

“I’m interested in reaching out to the most marginalized people in society,” Bragg says. “There are plenty of people who are willing to support broad issues like climate and issues like that, which are very important. But there’s plenty of people doing that; I don’t think that adding my name to it is going to make a huge amount of difference. But out on the very margins of society, there are a lot of people out there who don’t get as much attention as polar bears and icebergs, and what I’m trying to do through my career is reach out to those people.”