Actually, Paddy and I got pretty damn close to jetting off to London to catch his 50th birthday event at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in December. If you missed it too you can enjoy a bit of it here courtesy of the magic of YouTube:
I often hear writers discuss the writers who have been their own biggest inspirations but nobody has been a bigger personal inspiration to me than Billy Bragg. His great humanitarianism and social consciousness is delivered with mile-deep charm, wit and genuine warmth. In fact, I probably would've listened to Billy Bragg if he'd just written love songs (because BB love songs are never just your standard love songs anyway) but they wouldn't have helped me keep the faith the way tunes like Waiting For The Great Leap Fowards, The Price of Oil and It Says Here have.
Thanks for helping us listeners keep the faith over the past twenty-five years, Billy (would it be too much to ask for another twenty-five??). I can't wait to get my hands on the new album, Mr. Love & Justice, in March.
To tide us over here's Billy performing Old Fashioned Girl on the Mama's Boy soundtrack:
