Billy Bragg Volume 2 | The Progressive Patriot: A Search For Belonging

9 October 2006 sees the simultaneous release of Billy Bragg Volume 2 and Billy’s book on identity, ‘The Progressive Patriot: A Search For Belonging.
The boxed set comprises four albums:
• Workers Playtime
• Don’t Try This At Home
• William Bloke
• England Half English
Each remastered album includes a bonus disc of extra tracks, and the boxed set features an exclusive in-concert DVD featuring Billy Bragg and The Red Stars at the Town & Country Club, London, in 1991 PLUS Billy’s hometown show at the Broadway Barking during his Hope Not Hate anti-fascist tour in May 2006.
It is released by Cooking Vinyl in the UK, by Yep Roc Records in the USA, and by Outside Music in Canada.

‘The Progressive Patriot’ is Billy’s first foray as an author, after 25 years as a songwriter, performer and political activist. Published by Bantam Press, the book is part autobiography, part polemic.
In it, Billy delves into his family history and childhood in Barking, Essex, and describes how writers and musicians such as George Orwell, Rudyard Kipling, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and The Clash influenced his sense of Englishness. He considers the impact Magna Carta, the Civil War and the Second World War had on national consciousness, and asks what patriotism means in a country where British citizens can kill their own countrymen with bombs and the BNP can win Council seats.
The book expands on themes Billy explored in his last studio album, England, Half English, which is part of the Volume 2 boxed set.
Buy an exclusive, autographed copy from the Bragg Shop here!