Blogging Against the Silence

I started this blog two years ago, and I've often asked myself, "Is it worth it?"

There's much good to be said for blogging; introducing people to bands they've never heard of or letting them re-listen to bands (or albums) they'd already passed judgment on plus forging connections with others in this clumsily-named Blogosphere. Blogging lets us communicate in our own fucked-up style and reach the world (or at least tiny pockets within it).

Of course, there is the silence.

Some bloggers don't give a rat's ass about the response but I want to know, good or bad, how others react to the music and the words. It is discouraging when, following a good post (and Lord know there's been some dogs here), you get one or two comments (some of which are complaining about the rip, the link or the spelling of the violinist's name etc.). Perhaps my disappointment springs from the damnable fact that I just like to talk about music too much.

I shan't whine too much about it, if you set up a blog offering music downloads (even of out-of-print music) most people will take or leave what you offer with nary a thought. And ~140,000 visitors from all over the globe (many of whom are not fluent in English) is no great shame.

Thanks to the many incisive people who have offered their comments (you excellent people know who you are), you've kept this enterprise afloat when it might've gone down long ago.

I started with Billy Bragg's Peel Sessions twenty-four months ago, so now I'll come full circle with this single from Bragg's 1998 collaboration with Wilco (and Natalie Merchant). The single contains the awe-inspiring title track (later pilfered by the Gaslight Anthem) plus two pure Bragg songs with no Wilco, Cara Tivey or Ian McLagen to get in the way.