This summer I’m in the fortunate position of interning in an office where I get to listen to music all day, which makes even the most tedious data entry enjoyable and the whole work experience that much better. In my first few weeks working with Steve and Canada at Pirate! Promotions I’ve heard mostly new bands, so you can imagine my excitement yesterday when it started getting towards quitting time and I heard the familiar rumbling guitar intro of an old favorite, Billy Bragg’s “A New England.” As it turns out, Steve is a Bragg diehard, so we spent the last hour or so of the day listening through his collection. Having not listened to Billy in awhile I started to envision this post right there at my desk.

This song offers Bragg at his finest- stripped down to just his unique voice, distorted guitar and accessible lyrics. Throughout his career he’s performed with full bands or acoustic guitars, but both of those setups detract from the gritty simplicity that makes Bragg’s songs what they are. This track especially shows how his rough accent and throbbing guitar tone intertwine perfectly, complementing each other and creating a sound that separates him from the countless other singer/guitarists in the world. He’s also one of the most motivated songwriters I’ve ever heard, listen to just a handful of his songs and you’ll get exactly what I mean. He’s one of the most forceful personalities you’ll ever see at a folk festival, in the best possible way.