Tom Morello, Stone Gossard?s Brad, Billy Bragg and Steve Earle Inject Woody Guthrie T
 

Woody Guthrie probably never saw an audience pogo to “This Land Is Your Land,” but he definitely would have appreciated the sight at Wednesday nights Guthrie tribute in New York: As surprise guest Tom Morello (in his acoustic Nightwatchman guise) led all of the evenings artists through a raucous version of the anthem at the end of the evening, he told the Webster Hall crowd to “jump the **** up,” and they complied.
Right before that, Billy Bragg performed a set filled with super-rare Guthrie tunes — revealing in the process that he and Wilco have enough songs recorded that they could release a third volume of their acclaimed Mermaid Avenue series of Guthrie compositions. He ended with a joyfully silly and obscene Guthrie tune in which the entire Republican party is revealed to be somehow trapped inside a bears ass.
The concert, a benefit for the Huntingtons Disease Society of America, also included sets by the reunited Brad (with Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard), and Steve Earle. Tim Robbins — who has a surprisingly robust, Eddie Vedder-ish voice — sang some Guthrie tunes with Gossard and also served as the evenings host, setting a politically charged tone by reading from Guthries anti-war writings between performances. And the Tangents, a teen band with Robbins son Miles on bass, opened the show with an impressively professional set of energetic, keyboard-heavy pop tunes.
Brads set, which included some still-unreleased songs, showed off Gossards versatility — turns out its not just his bandmate Mike McCready who can play the blues. The band sounded like a missing link in Nineties Seattle rock, with frontman Shawn Smiths vocals reminiscent of a rootsier Layne Cantrell.
Steve Earles solo acoustic performance hit its emotional peak with “Christmas in Washington,” which pleads “come back, Woody Guthrie” in its chorus. He also showed how much he learned from Guthries rabble-rousing side, getting the crowd to sing along with “F The CC”s refrain of “**** the FCC / **** the FBI / **** the CIA.”
[Photo: Lovekin/Getty]


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