At My Window Sad and Lonely - Billy Bragg and Wilco - Mermaid Avenue - 1998

Back in 1998, Wilco was relatively small potatoes when they were asked to feature with noted British punk/folkie Billy Bragg on an album of unrecorded Woody Guthrie songs. At the time the were the band led by the less respected member of the Uncle Tupelo. They had had a minor "Y'alternative" hit with Box Full of Letters and then faded into the background with a solid but low selling follow up and a third album that relied more on Beach Boys-esque pop than Hank Williams Sr.

But then with Mermaid Avenue, their rise to the thrown of Starbuck's Comp/Dad-Rock icons was on it's way. The Guthrie estate had a set of lyrics that Guthrie had written but never set music too...they hand picked Wilco and Bragg to make an album with these lyrics and the results were solidly succesful...take this song for instance.