Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
Revisiting old songs and exploring new ways to sing them is something of a Will Oldham/Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy trademark. Three of his last four album releases have been covers of pre-existing songs. Summer in the Southeast is a live album, The Brave and the Bold is a collaboration with Tortoise, consisting of 10 cover songs, while in Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music, Oldham and friends perform updates of music he composed earlier in his career.
It was a delight to see another iteration of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy last night, this time performing with the folk band Harem Scarem. Hearing tunes I know quite well re-arranged to fit with Harem Scarem’s fantastic female harmonies became another reason to enjoy Oldham’s music. In performing with four other voices, a couple of violins, a flute, an accordion, a banjo, a guitar and an enthusiastic drummer, it is clear that everything has been carefully rehearsed. Nevertheless, he meanders around the beat (and indeed the notes) of each song, as if he is experimenting, trying out a new version. The sheen of uniqueness and immediacy remains.
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:20 pm
[...] I think one of the reasons I enjoy the music of Will Oldham is his propensity to remix his own songs. Hearing an old tune sung in a new style forces you to think about how the original was put together. The differences between the two renditions bring out the best of both. This is also true of artist Tommy Perman’s project Chinese Whispers, where the mix that was remixed was remixed was remixed, by an ever-expanding group of producers. Real World Records run a similar ongoing project too, again facilitated by the Internet and accessible production software that simply was not available five or six years ago. [...]