Now that Bragg is out playing his own concerts, he encourages young fans to fight against today's injustices just as his influences The Clash did.
Bragg performed at the Lebanon Opera House on Thursday, Oct. 23, as a stop on his annual United States tour. This year, however, the tour seems less like a promotional event than a political one.
Last year, he promoted his "Johnny Clash" project to provide guitars for British inmates, and this year he performed at venues like the opera house in Lebanon, rousing his fans to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
"I have faith that Barack Obama will win the election," Bragg said. "I'll tell my friends back home 'See, they're smarter than you think.'"
Bragg is most famous in America for his "Mermaid Avenue" albums (1998 and 2000), a collection of previously unreleased material by American folk singer Woody Guthrie for which he collaborated with alternative rock group Wilco.
In concert on Thursday, he repeatedly reminded the crowd of mostly students and younger couples that the only way to effect change is to vote.
"George Bush is almost gone," Bragg said. "But we can still have a future of the same."
Bragg opened his set with "Help Save The Youth of America," a song off his 1986 album "Talking With the Taxman About Poetry" (1986). He followed that with "To Have and to Have Not,"off his 1983 debut "Life's a Riot" with "Spy vs. Spy," a song about the fundamental equality among people despite socio-economic difference.
After a brief talk about the Iraq War, Bragg played a song off his latest album, "Farm Boy," which he dedicated to veterans of the Iraq War.
"The war is an important issue in current politics," Bragg said to the crowd. "I'm surprised it's not a bigger part of the election."
During the middle of his set, Bragg took a short break from his political focus. Known by his fans for his comedic recollections of past shows, Bragg spoke about a laundry crisis that hit Texas and Minnesota, then praised a special tea that helps him sing.
"It's a special blend," he said. "You drink it, and it'll make you think you can sing in tune. Madonna recommended it."
After the pause, Bragg went on to play "Ingrid Bergman" off "Mermaid Avenue," a song of unrequited lust written by Guthrie for the Swedish actress.
Returning to politics, Bragg played another Guthrie song, this time a cover of "I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore," followed by his own songs "NPWA (No Power Without Accountability)" and "Sexuality," a single off his 1991 album "Don't Try This at Home," which rails against homophobia.
Though Bragg does not draw 80,000 fans to his shows as the Clash did for its Rock Against Racism performance, his songs of social equality and tolerance share the Clash's goal. Bragg moves and empowers his audience as his idols did, while putting on a great show.
"Billy's been a huge inspiration," said Chandra Watson of the Watson Twins, the folk music duo that opened for Bragg. "He has such a strong belief in music."
What made Bragg's performance great and had the audience enthused throughout was not his bits of humor or his anecdotes about Guthrie's sexual antics; it was the fact that the concert demonstrated the power of art to initiate change.
Rather than stand on the stage thanking his fans for supporting him, he encouraged them to take responsibility for the future.
Toward the end of the concert, Bragg played a song that he wrote in the spirit of a Clash fan, "Old Clash Fan Fight Song," and went on to talk about the influence that the band's music had on those 80,000 people at the concert with him in 1978.
"I knew from that day on that I was not alone," he said. "I knew that there were thousands of others out there like me."
But he also reminded the audience that the Clash was only a band, and that they could not achieve change themselves -- that was the audience's responsibility.
He closed with "I Keep Faith," a song off his most recent album, which was released earlier this year. Bragg left the stage to a standing ovation from an audience sincere enough to make up in spirit what it lacked in numbers.
Bragg's latest album, "Mr. Love & Justice," was released April 22, 2008, and is available on iTunes and in stores.
