When American folk legend Woody Guthrie died in 1967 at the age of 55, he left behind a trove of more than one thousand sets of complete lyrics with no music. In 1995, his daughter Nora approached English singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg and about the possibility of bringing these unheard songs to life by setting them to new music. Wilco came aboard soon after, and in 1998 Mermaid Avenue was released to critical acclaim, receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II followed in 2000, and together the two have sold more than 500,000 copies to date.Now, for the first time, Nonesuch releases the complete recordings from the project in one box set set. Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions includes:Mermaid AvenueMermaid Avenue, Vol. II (remastered)Mermaid Avenue, Vol. III; a third disc of 17 previously unreleased recordings made druing the Mermaid Avenue sessionsMan in the Sand, the 1999 full-length documentary of the Mermaid Avenue sessions48 page full-color booklet with liner notes by Geoffrey Himes and Greil Marcus, full lyrics, archival photographs, and facsimilesof lyric sheets and sketches by Woody Guthrie
