Writing Wrongs

Billy Bragg keeps the progressive home fires burning and cynicism at bay

If there's one person you would expect to condemn the present state of America's political affairs, it would be Billy Bragg, right? Surely Britain's punk poet laureate should be grabbing every microphone within reaching distance to decry the evils of our current administration. But surprisingly, his reaction is quite the opposite. "I'm encouraged by the results of the last two elections, because I believe that America has not yet decided what kind of country it's going to be in the 21st century," he says on the phone from Winnepeg.

Bragg is currently on a bit of a multitasking tour to showcase his two latest works: Volume II (YepRoc), a box set, and The Progressive Patriot, a book. While Volume II is an expected retrospective that covers the second half of Bragg's career from 1988 onward, The Progressive Patriot is uncharted territory for the singer-songwriter, a treatise that addresses Britain's national identity, the emergence of organized racism, and the political road that weaves between the two. more