The political punk trio Songs for Emma pulls no punches, starting with the band’s name, which salutes the American radical Emma Goldman. Led by Tommy Strange, formerly of the punkier Strawman, Songs for Emma is an intriguing blend of Billy Bragg’s shout-along polemics, Bruce Springsteen’s working-man rock & roll (Strange’s hoarse but melodic lead vocals bear a strong resemblance to Springsteen’s Nebraska mode), and Crazy Horse-style classic rock guitar squalls. It might not be punk as the term is narrowly understood, but to those who think that Woody Guthrie scrawling “This machine kills fascists” on his acoustic guitar was possibly the first punk rock act — and that’s an easy argument to make — the passionate but never strident or hectoring feel of songs like “Democracy” and the stirring “Ludlow” (based on one of the most shameful acts of the anti-labor movement in America) will ring true. And even classic rock fogies will appreciate the burnished rock & roll grace of the defeated-but-strong closer, “Burn These Books.” – Stewart Mason
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