Will Oldham/Palace/Bonnie Prince Billie: S&D

favourite song title, rather. the album from which it's taken, arise, therefor, is very dull though, imo. i'm not an expert on the man, though my brother was very enthousiastic about the palace brothers' there is no-one that will take care of you.

your appreciation of oldham probably rises and falls with three things: a. your appreciation of his basic shtick (rich indie kid from louisville, ex-child actor playing faux-ozarks ballads), b. the rather...cracked quality of his voice, c. the quality of the songwriting itself (which i think is actually quite high if not exactly immediately memorable...cf. my above comment about not realizing i owned almost all his records.)

it's too early in the morning to do a full on s&d but for right now search:

"there is no one what will take care of you" - the first palace brothers albun, released in its first edition anonymously, not unlike john fahey's first lp. obviously his songwriting and voice are at their earliest but not necesarily weakest: when he stretches out he sounds like a particularly enervated neil young.

"days in the wake" - the most stripped down release in the oldham catalogue, right down to the jandek referencing cover art. mostly just will and guitar, quite a few emotional bombs/great lines dropped, an LP a shade over 27 minutes.

"i see a darkness" - probably his all around best record, 38 minutes, short and sweet. dig the celtic/islands vibe on "madeline mary" and the fuzzed out sub-dub bass of "death to everyone." also, the last track may be the prettiest thing he's ever written.

"ease down the road" - tom favorably compared these to the fat & happy & bearded dylan of the (mid?) 70s. he's right; a contented oldham is not necessarily a happy oldham, but he's certainly janutier than normally.

also SEARCH: the johnny cash cover of "i see a darkness" on american iii: solitary man. a mediation on a vision of death by a man who at the time was staring it directly in the face.

The only album I rarely listen to anymore is Arise Therefore, the rest are in constant rotation.

Search the Almost Heaven EP too, with Rian Murphy.

Personally though I amn't listening to that kind of music now, I think Will Oldham is a great man. I see a darkness is probably one of my favourite songs ever, I forget if it made my perfect 15 or not.

His cover of AC/DC Big Balls is pretty good too. I don't have all his stuff but I wish I did. I think what makes him interesting is his voice which can convey desperation and sadness better than almost anyone else I've ever heard.

Search Also:Every Mothers Son, and most of I see a darkness album.

I don't know if I would destroy the likes of Arise, Therefore, Joya, and his inumerable EPs and "versions," but they generally don't do much for me. He definitely hit a slack patch there for a while around A,T.

When he first started out, he appeared to be the epitome of something I really hate--the po-faced roots-music dilettante. But there was something so idiosyncratic and cracked about the first single and album that I was hooked anyway. Then I saw him live for the first time: no acoustic guitars, no wood-smoke croon--he was leading a rock band and wearing leather pants that laced up the sides. Confounded again. Then he put out Days in the Wake: solo acoustic, with tons more of those great what-the-hell-is-that-all-about songs. After that I paid close attention just in case I might miss something.

Now I take him at his word that he's feeling his way forward, trying to write about emotional states that aren't always rational, or that he has trouble articulating rationally. And while even the best albums he's done since have their weak songs--or even moments when it sounds like he's just a musical slummer whacking off with both hands-- like as not he comes up with a few tunes that describe or tap into something I've felt but couldn't have described either. And then there's his singing, which is almost always worth a listen, even though it annoys me to distraction when he chews gum while singing live.

As a side note, I also like the way he casually drops the erotic and vulgar into his lyrics. I mean, some of his lyrics are bizarrely, explicitly sex-obsessed, but that stuff is never there to shock or serve as a punchline (well, except maybe that bit about fucking a mountain). In his songs wrong-headed trysts, cum stains, blowjobs, and cunnilingus are just as much a part of life as not knowing how you feel. Seems pretty sound to me.

here's a pic of Will

• lost blues and other songs (singles/rarities comp) - search "lost blues", "marriage", "west palm beach"
• side 2 of viva last blues
• "one with the birds", "patience/take however long you want", "little boy blue", "trudy dies" (the 7" version) singles

definitely some melody there for you. check out the peel session of "you have cum in your hair..." which I like better than the original.

i find him interesting because he has a great voice (narrative- wise, but also vocally) uh... is it indie-pride week yet?

I got Arise, Therefore today. PERFECT for my mood.

Colin, you're not alone, I am also a big fan of Arise, Therefore. I think it's one of his most consistent works. I am very much looking forward to his upcoming greatest hits record, which I heard will be re-recordings.

It's hard to explain the mystique, I'm aware of the pretense of it all, but somehow, I find him very talented despite the obviously forced illusions. I think he'd be great to have a beer with. I don't own all of his records but the ones I do have I would not trade. Fair enough?

When I saw him, he didn't so much change as flesh out some of the earlier, sparser melodies. A lot of the really meandering/weird stuff from Days In The Wake, for example, was given a nice full band treatment. He also played with solo electric guitar for about 1/3 of the set, the band coming out to rejoin him for the end.

Further comments... there's a six minute long, full-band version of "No More Workhorse Blues" on this bootleg from Austria I found. Crazy. Parts of it sound spanish, then when the song climax the drums really start to come in. Unrecognizable initially!

There's also a wonderfully twisted piece written by will in today's guardian.

(p.s. THANKS NA!!!!!!)

A question, though: how can I find out who played on/produced the songs, without tracking down the original singles? The big Oldham websites don't seem to have that info. I'd like to know which song(s) were produced by Kramer, Adam & Eve, etc...

there's always been a protean quality to his music, which often goes overlooked largely because of the superhuman insularity of his misterioso hillbilly shtick. people tend to link him with these old balladeer types, which a certain prominent vein of his music does encourage. but i hear--sublimated and reconstituted beautifully in the last 3 records--a whole bunch of less-austere influences (sorry mark) there, like a thousand singer-songwriters and alterindie bands.

I don't know why I never really responded to the other Palace albums (though I like some of the songs on "Days in the Wake"). These early singles are just another breed - not just the songs themselves, but the production, the playing, the atmosphere...

"just to see my holly home" is a very funny song. it's about, i guess, the dark side of the whole "nuclear family" thing--the family has a remarkable closeness, but it comes from denigrating and attacking all others and ultimately locking them and the world out forever. oldham cheerfully places mysogynystic musings next to a kind of idealization of his partner/family. anyway this is a boring exegesis but what makes it work is how oldham finds a peculiar balance b/t silliness and earnestness. the balance wouldn't hold if the song had such an insinuating sound.

i love seeing photos of young bill! what a gem.

thank you for the response! From what I can tell, the answer is "there was somehow an offer"? i am not satisfied! from whom? why?

It was at University of Missouri... maybe some of the guys had connections to the student bookers? (I'm totally just guessing)

Maybe. There is definitely something more factual behind "there was somehow an offer". Still curious.

I remembered that my wife works with a guy who was one of the two college DJs who organized that Big Star reunion show... I asked her to pick his brain and see if he knows/recalls anything about the Palace booking.

hey that's awesome! i just want to know how something like that actually happens, not how it is reflected in the lore or whatever. it probably does boil down to "friends"

I'm interested too!

Got an amazingly great anecdote / reminiscence back from the guy. Don't think I can post it verbatim (and won't use his name), so figuring out how to whittle it down...

Wish I had DM capability and/or your trust!

(a Louisville friend "well-actually"'d me and said that Will, Todd & Grant performed at a cafe "a couple of times" before the Big Star gig.)

(which morrisp's link goes into much better detail, haha, sorry for posting before clicking all links)

The core of it is that this guy (the college DJ and Big Star fan) was friends with Bob Nastanovich, and Bob "knew Will from Louisville and suggested we put him on the bill." He continues: "I didn’t really know what we were getting. But I knew Will from the movie Matewan. I think maybe we gave him $500. We definitely didn’t have 5g. If it was his first show, I didn’t know that at the time (or until now)."

He included a few other personal recollections which are v cool but I probably can't share here.

xp: (though I can confirm that is Grant on banjo in the pic which the meticulously detailed website is uncertain of w/r/t early lineup)

Bob "knew Will from Louisville and suggested we put him on the bill."

They were roommates at the time iirc.

What a great revive, this!

The new arrangements with Eighth Blackbird are gorgeous. It really shows where he is as a singer to hold his own with this ensemble.

Here’s a live one of “One with the Birds”:
https://vimeo.com/179383778

The new arrangements with Eighth Blackbird are gorgeous. It really shows where he is as a singer to hold his own with this ensemble.

Here’s a live one of “One with the Birds”:
https://vimeo.com/179383778

<3 that

same! going to get the album on the back of it

new single off new album, sounds like 8th Blackbird is still involved:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhMz9pvRNCQ

'Superwolves' came out a couple of weeks ago. I'm on track 3. Great stuff so far.

https://www.dragcity.com/products/superwolves

Reading posts from a year ago discussing the show at the university of Missouri. My good friend, Jeff Breeze, was the student who called Alex and pitched the idea of a Big Star reunion gig on campus. This was a few years before I went to school there and became friends with him, though.
He sadly passed away very suddenly last November. I know he was working on writing up the whole experience and shopping it around for publication, but he wasn't getting much traction.

I am not at all certain about any of the details surrounding the event. It had already become the stuff of college radio legend by the time I got there.

Gonna be a luddite and hold out for my physical copy of Superwolves. I've been waiting years for a follow-up, so a few more months ain't gonna kill me. I know pressing plants and schedules are still out of whack, but I'm surprised by how far behind Drag City's physical releases are lagging.

Having now listened to Superwolves fully a few times I am delighted to report that it is magnificent. A worthy successor to Superwolf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzjahqr9wGs

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/aug/24/bonnie-prince-billy-i-cant-regret-working-with-r-kelly-it-made-me-better-able-to-judge-my-behaviour-and-that-of-others

Didn't know about the Birdman thing.

Thanks for that, the "Birdman" thing is nuts.

His new album is terrific, one of my favorites of his in recent years.

I didn't know he took that Slint cover photo.

feel like the title 'Good Morning, Popocatépetl' is some sort of infringement

new record is great imo

absolutely, def top tier Oldham.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy is headlining Supersonic festival in Birmingham this August/September... I'm hoping this means there will be some other UK dates around that time.

he’s playing QMU in aug. presale is open

Thanks, obviously I'd totally missed that! When was it announced? I blame wretched social media algorithms.

He also has a small role in the upcoming movie The Bikeriders

Every now and then I become convinced “Troublesome Houses” is one of the greatest songs ever written.

H.P otm

also this news today: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3-jBRyunnM/
"ryan daly made this film. i witnessed and nudged. @criterionchannel is now streaming it. the idea was to give audiences a time and space to listen to an intentional grouping of songs, in this case the Bonnie Prince Billy record KEEPING SECRETS WILL DESTROY YOU. it was shown in movie theaters across the western world. i am a card-carrying Criterion subscriber and have found it a tremendous resource for uplift, edification and, at times, escape. we are honored and grateful to have our work on the channel. @dragcityrecords @dominorecordco"

why the fuck is there a british band called Palace

"Their debut album on Fiction records, So Long Forever (2016), trawled the wreckage of Wyndham’s shattered psyche following the death of a family member and the break-up of both his parents’ and his own relationships, and chimed with the times"

no thank you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpSCDm9HJmc

I felt the last record a bit of letdown after the excellent I Made A Place, but man oh man The Purple Bird is sounding amazing so far (only played side A)

does anyone know why it's on No Quarter and not Drag City

Not sure, but they also released an album he did last year with Nathan Salsburg and Tyler Trotter.

that one is amazing, two side-long lungfish covers.

Yeah, it's great! Looking forward to the new one, supposed to get here tomorrow. But I actually that the last one was really good too!

does anyone know why it's on No Quarter and not Drag City

― Murgatroid, Thursday, January 30, 2025 6:12 AM (three hours ago)

check the latest Kreative Kontrol podcast interview with Will, he talks about it a little bit, nothing definitive but just that there may be some behind the scenes drama.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ep-944-bonnie-prince-billy/id652522142?i=1000686107011

Bandcamp listening party in about 30 mins (2 p.m. Eastern 1/30):

https://t.co/zyR1md2CPM

today at the two o'clock hour of the eastern United States. 14 o'clock.

— Boniface Billy (@signifyingwolf) January 30, 2025

xp i've listened to this episode like twice now (good thing the interview is short) and I don't hear anything like what you're describing

yeah I also couldn't find that bit?