Director Paolo Sorrentino’s first English-language film, “This Must Be The Place” starring Sean Penn, with a soundtrack by David Byrne and Will Oldham ( which was noted in this blog back in November), is set for release on April 6. Check out this review at the British website thisisfakediy.co.uk. Here’s the teaser:
Jan 312012
Will Oldham is across the pond at the moment, playing the British (and Irish) Isles. Check out this fairly lengthy interview he did with the Irish Times.
Jan 282012
Curious to know how Will Oldham performs when he’s out of the country? You might be surprised – read this review of a show at Hackney Empire, London, posted on the Guardian website.
UPDATE: Here’s another review, of the same show, on the Telegraph’s website
Jan 242012
Apparently Will Oldham’s dopelganger of Bonnie “Prince” Billy has his own blend of coffee, which you can purchase for $20 at the Drag City website. The best part might be the description that comes with it:
“Overtones of chocolate, leather and non-wacky tobaccy pair favorably with Wolfroy Goes To Town, available for purchase here of courses, or fresh muskmelons, for which we recommend that you contact your local free-range melon farmer.”
Jan 042012
The Scots take a different approach to things, including their writing. (Ask Brigid when she gets back). Take this interview with Will Oldham in the Herald Scotland as an informative example.
Dec 222011
It does appear that the Europeans appreciate Louisville music more than we do here: UK’s Faber & Faber is set to release Will Oldham On Bonnie “Prince” Billy, a book-length interview/discussion between Will Oldham and journalist/musician Alan Licht. The release date is 1/3/2012 but you can order it – in British pounds – online at http://www.faber.co.uk. Here’s some of the accompanying text:
“W – Sweeney called me and said that Johnny Cash just recorded “I See A Darkness.” We had a Bowery Ballroom show a week or two later, and he invited Rick Rubin to come to the show; he came to the show … and asked if I wanted to play piano on the song. A – Which you agreed to do despite not knowing how to play piano. W – Yes…”
Domino Records To Reissue Five Palace Records
Americana, CD Release, LMNEditor, Video
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Dec 102011
For those of you who have no idea who or what Palace is/was and likely have not much of a clue about Bonnie “Prince” Billy either – which would include the majority of Louisvillians – Palace was a name that Will Oldham used for his records through most of the Nineties. The variations on that name included The Palace Brothers, Palace Music and Palace Songs. The albums to be reissued are: the1993 debut, There Is No One That Will Take Care Of You, 1994’s Days in the Wake and Hope, 1995’s Viva Last Blues and 1997’s Lost Blues and Other Songs. Here’s a sample from 1995 called “Old Jersalem”
Having only just recently found the need to explain yet again to a group of Louisvillians (who should have known better) about Will Oldham and Slint’s influences in the music world AND having been chewed out by a commenter over my questioning the absolute need for a full-size orchestra in Louisville, the new artistic director for Actor’s Theatre, Les Waters, noted in a C-J interview that “he likes other things about the city, particularly its music scene, he said, citing the work of Will Oldham and the band Slint.” Got that? The hot young theatre director cites not the orchestra or the ballet or the capital-A Arts but Will Oldham and Slint.
Nov 172011
Back in January, it was announced that Will Oldham and Talking Heads’s David Byrne would team up to compose music for an unusual forthcoming film starring Sean Penn as a Nazi-hunting, Robert Smith-esque aging rock star. Now some of the songs and a setlist have surfaced and the twentyfourbit.com blog has some clips. Here’s “Lay & Love”:
Nov 162011
The British newspaper The Guardian has arranged for a fan Q&A with Will Oldham, a.k.a., Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. You can post your questions on the Guardian website at http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/nov/16/ask-bonnie-prince-billy. Oldham will answer questions live online at guardian.co.uk/music at 3 p.m. GMT (10 a.m. EST) on Monday, November 21. Ain’t the web grand?
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