Folk singer Billy Bragg and alt-country rockers Wilco have finished recording Mermaid Avenue, an album of music written by Bragg using the lyrics of deceased folk-legend Woody Guthrie, with Wilco serving as the backing band.

Guthrie, who died from Huntington's disease in 1967, rose to the highest ranks of folk music with such gems of social commentary as "This Land Is Your Land" and "Pastures of Plenty." His influence on folk songwriting -- and particularly on the early work of Bob Dylan -- is widely acknowledged.

The new Bragg-Wilco album, which evolved from unfinished manuscripts provided to Bragg by Guthrie's estate, provides modern musical readings of 14 sets of Guthrie's lyrics. The album was recorded at a studio in Dublin, Ireland, and is scheduled for a June 23 release.

Last year, Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy explained how the songs were being put together. "He [Guthrie] has like thousands of lyrics that weren't ever put to music," Tweedy said. "So we're just sorting through the archives and writing music for all these lyrics and then making a record out of it."

The album takes its name from the street in Coney Island, N.Y., where Guthrie lived when he wrote some of the lyrics that became songs on Mermaid Avenue.

John McCord, general manager of the Down Home Music Store in El Cerrito, Calif., and a fan of Woody Guthrie, voiced his support for the project.

"I think Woody was always good for bringing out the interesting aspects of contemporary life in his time, and a lot of things he did talk about are still relevant today," McCord said. "There is a definite value in having Billy Bragg and Wilco, people who are doing some of the same things, addressing the topics he spoke to ... I think his words have a power that can withstand and/or enhance whatever treatment they give it."

The complete track-listing for the album is: "California Star," "I Guess I Planted," "Whodo Voodoo," "Ingrid Bergman," "Sad and Lonely," "Walt Whitman," "Christ for President," "She Came Along to Me," "One by One," "Eisler on the Go," "Hesitation Beauty," "Unwelcome Guest," "Way Over Yonder" and "Another Man Done Gone."