The last time I saw Billy Bragg was in 2017 when he played Iceland Airwaves at a small church right on a lake in Reykjavík. Now I was sitting down over Zoom to talk with the brilliant and outspoken UK folk punk singer, songwriter and guitarist to talk about his late friend Gary Smith, who used to run Boston’s storied Fort Apache studios.
Smith died at the beginning of 2023, and a two-night tribute has been organized in Somerville, MA to celebrate his life, with Bragg headlining the second night. During a 617 Q&A for Vanyaland ahead of the concerts, we ruminated on the many losses he’s experienced in such a short time, including Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan.
One of the questions left out of the final piece was when we were talking about how you can be up and down in his chosen career, sometimes with money and others wondering where the necessary funds will come from next. Unsurprisingly, Bragg had a brilliantly thoughtful answer.
MC: You mentioned the way this music industry works. For a lot of the people involved in it – and I count myself as one of those people – and, look, I’ve established all these relationships with different publications, but I’m still technically a “freelance writer.” As an artist, you’re not lucky enough to be on one label your entire life, but you keep going. You get back at it. What is it about this field where people can be flush at some points while broke at others, but keep coming back for more?
BB: I think you have to ask yourself, would you do this if I didn’t pay you for it? And if you would, then you’re stuck with it. I certainly feel I would, and I know a lot of people like that, and for all of us, we’re all chasing the same dream, which is finding a way to make a living doing it, whether it’s your end of it or my end of it, and everybody else in between.
We’re all looking for that moment where we get to leave our shitty day job and make a living doing the thing that we really believe in and the thing that really motivates us. So few people get the opportunity to do that and make a go of it. I mean, to me, that’s the point of success, to do what you’ve always wanted to do and make a living from it, everything else, it doesn’t matter how massive what you do is just to know that you are realizing your inspiration. You are doing the thing, you’re in the right place doing the thing that you want to do. So few people get to do that. Anyone who does I think is really fortunate.
Head to Vanyaland for the rest of the chat, and check out a much younger Billy Bragg performing “A New England” on The Tube during the early-80s below.
The Chronicles of Michael Christopher 
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