Bonnie “Prince” Billy, the musical brainchild of Louisville-based artist Will Oldham, will take the stage at The Englert Theatre on Sunday, Dec. 15, bringing along an oeuvre that spans over 20 albums in as many years. But that doesn’t even begin to describe Oldham’s entire career as a songwriter and performer, which started with the alt-country efforts in the 1990s and has included recent collaborations with Matt Sweeny, Dawn McCarthy and Tortoise. I recently reached Oldham by phone, to speak about solo performances, an artist’s persona and the Everly Brothers.
Little Village: It looks like you’re just doing a few days just through the Midwest in December?
Will Oldham: Yes, in the Midwest I’m doing four or five in December. I’ve been going out on these three to five day trips for the past couple few months and the next couple months.
LV: Are you performing by yourself, or do you have other musicians who will be joining you?
WO: No, by myself. Though, for all of the shows the Bitchin’ Bajas are going to be playing as well.
LV: Do you prefer performing solo, as opposed to being with a band?
WO: I’m trying to learn to like it. It’s nice traveling with people, and having people to play with, play off of and to share aspects of the show before, during and after with. There’s nobody to share aspects of the show with when you play by yourself, but I know that there are things to learn from playing on one’s own.
LV: When you are playing by yourself, how does it change your approach to the material? How do you look at what you want to do when you perform alone?
WO: I don’t know… actually, I don’t know how to answer that question. Oftentimes, when these trips are three to five shows, I will, for myself, try to make the set significantly—if not completely—different each night. Sometimes I’ll repeat one or two songs over the course of four or five days, but it’s trying to learn who the audience is through their reactions to what I play.
LV: Do you find yourself struggling against the expectations of the crowd? You have a large swath of material to draw from, and you’ve worked on a lot of different projects with a lot of different people, but it seems like when people go to see Will Oldham or Bonnie “Prince” Billy, that they may have a set expectation of what it’s going to be like … Is that a conflict for you?
WO: No. I know that there probably are some kinds of expectations, but … I almost feel like at this point there is the expectation that surprise is going to be built into the experience, be an integral part of the experience for everybody in the room. I think years ago there was [expectation] … It’s been so long that I’ve been making records and playing shows that it seems at this point I don’t believe there are a lot of preconceptions about what the show will be like.
http://youtu.be/TbJOhyuw5Mg
LV: Earlier this year you had released a record with Dawn McCarthy of Everly Brothers’ songs. What drew you to them, and especially to the lesser-known parts of their catalogue?
WO: I’ve always listened to them my whole life, and here and there we’ve covered a song or two of theirs, at different times. Dawn suggested at one point when we were on tour together six or seven years ago—we were playing separate sets—and we started playing “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Grow Bad)” just during her set or between sets. And then like a year and a half ago she said that she bought a Greatest Hits cassette, and that her and her daughters were listening to it all of the time in their truck. I’ve been digging deeper and deeper into their catalogue over the past 20 years, and found all these wild jams, and some specifically that I thought maybe we should record. And when she asked I just got terribly excited, because I knew that she didn’t quite know what she was asking. So I started sending her the songs I thought we could do, and indeed she did get quite stoked.
LV: I’ve been re-listening to some of the recent Bonnie “Prince” Billy records, and noticed that there is a gospel element throughout. Is that some place you end up automatically when you are writing, arranging and recording? Is it a conscious effort, or do you just go there automatically?
WO: I think it’s somewhat automatic. It’s definitely something that isn’t ignored, or I don’t try and stay away from it. I think its just part of what is important to me about music, or music that I listen to.
LV: In terms of you performing other people’s music, you’re now in the position where people are recording your music, taking your songs and reimagining them, performing them. What is that experience like, the role reversal of having other people record and perform your songs?
WO: It is a role-reversal. In a lot of ways, it’s the point. I think it’s the pinnacle of knowing that the songs have a place in the world, when someone else feels like they could sing it. It’s what you want your kids to grow up to do.
LV: Can we expect some new Bonnie “Prince” Billy material soon?
WO: I’m going to keep making records until I can’t make records anymore. Hopefully enough people buy them so that we can make another one—and people have, which has been one of the best parts of the past 20 years.
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