Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-10-25
Billy Bragg and Wilco have shared a previously unreleased recording of “Hesitating Beauty (Solo Version),” the latest preview of Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, arriving December 11 via Craft Recordings. Featuring Jeff Tweedy alone on vocal and guitar, the stripped-back performance offers an intimate new perspective on one of the most enduring songs from the acclaimed collaboration, which brought previously unheard lyrics by Woody Guthrie to life through new music.
The recording is one of three versions of “Hesitating Beauty” featured across the expanded collection, offering a particularly revealing look at the song and the creative legacy behind it. Alongside the familiar Billy Bragg and Wilco album recording and the previously unreleased Tweedy solo version, The Complete Sessions includes a remarkable archival discovery: a 1951 home recording of Woody Guthrie himself performing “Hesitating Beauty.”
Together, the recordings connect Guthrie’s original musical interpretation with the version that Bragg and Wilco introduced to audiences nearly five decades later, and an intimate alternate performance from the sessions. They also capture the spirit of the Mermaid Avenue project: an unlikely collaboration across generations, built on the idea that Guthrie’s words could continue to inspire new music long after they were written.
“Hesitating Beauty (Solo Version),” available to stream today, follows the previously released “Aginst Th’ Law (Alternate Version),” another newly unearthed recording from the original sessions.
Arriving December 11, Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions brings together all three volumes of Billy Bragg and Wilco’s landmark collaboration—Mermaid Avenue (1998), Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000) and Mermaid Avenue Vol. III (2012)—alongside 16 previously unreleased recordings, including alternate takes, demos and live performances.
The project began when Nora Guthrie invited Bragg to explore her father’s unpublished lyrics, leading to a collaboration with Wilco, led by Jeff Tweedy. Recording in Chicago and Dublin in 1997, the musicians created nearly 50 tracks, including enduring favorites “California Stars,” “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key,” “Hesitating Beauty” and “Airline to Heaven.” The expanded collection opens the archive further with a dedicated Alternatives & Demos disc featuring previously unheard versions of “All You Fascists,” “I Guess I Planted,” “She Came Along To Me” and more.
Available as a 7-LP + 7″ box set, 4-CD box set and expanded digital edition, The Complete Sessions features new liner notes by acclaimed journalist Bob Mehr. The deluxe vinyl box includes an exclusive 7″ featuring Woody Guthrie’s 1951 home recording of “Hesitating Beauty.” All three original volumes will also be available individually as 180-gram 2-LP sets, with exclusive colored vinyl editions at independent record stores, Barnes & Noble and CraftRecordings.com.
Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions arrives December 11, 2026, via Craft Recordings. Pre-order/pre-save the collection here.
