Indie Rock and Folk Icon Will Oldham, as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Quietly Abides

Much has been written about Will Oldham since the early nineties and this article will be only another in a long series of wary snippets into the life and art of this man. I have struggled for more than a year over writing about Will Oldham as there is absolutely no way one article could even remotely cover what this man has accomplished as a singer/songwriter since 1993, not to mention his early work as an actor, and now even more his recent ambitious adult forays into the world of indie film. Every article I have previously read has given me a greater insight into the man and his music, and its bearing on his life. Every available article is important in getting to know him better. Live interviews are especially interesting as he is evasive as well as forthright. He seems to stand on his difference which, I think it was Aristotle who said, is a sign of genius. A biography of Will Oldham, it seems to me, would be impossible. Several works by countless other writers combined together would do us more justice, as would an autobiography to help us fill in the cracks. But it is my opinion that as an artist Will Oldham is too large to define. He is complex and difficult to pin down. Art critics cannot even decide what to call what it is he does. One must always be prepared to step out of his box. Or maybe to step back in it much as the bonny performer on stage can spin and hop high on a moment as if he were always wondrously gay.

You might sight him picking up his mail at the local post office in The Highlands along Bardstown Road in Louisville, but most times Will Oldham goes along in town pretty much unnoticed. He likes that, I think. He is a devoted and loving family man and desires to live close to his widowed mom. He's gentle and it's possible the lazy southern heat helps him to think. You might see an interesting looking guy peddling his bicycle along Frankfort Avenue in Crescent Hill and realize that the bearded fellow you just noticed was actually Will Oldham after driving past him for over a city block. There is little written about him in the local papers. Ask most people around town and they have never heard of him. He is more popular, more of a celebrity, almost everywhere else he travels and performs around the world than even in his own hometown.

Almost every spontaneous occasion my wife and I visited Baxter Avenue Theater back when it specialized in indie and foreign flicks you could bet your ass on seeing his parents Mr. and Mrs. Oldham at the same theater. It was odd, but there they always were. At least they seemed to be. If there was a play of interest at Actor's Theater, there the Oldhams were. It did not surprise me that their son was so interestingly talented. I had earlier discovered Will Oldham for myself with the release of his first album Palace Brothers 
there is no one what will take care of you on the Drag City Label 34 (c) 1993. It was a dark album, and the creepy feeling I had in the beginning made me think it was a sarcastic joke creatively developed by some young guys trying to make a record that sounded like they sweatily sauntered out of some deep Kentucky holler with banjos in hand. Their playing was crude, the singing even cruder, and I certainly loved the album. My kids thought I was crazy. I maintained that if the album was indeed a joke, if these guys actually weren't for real, then none of it mattered anyway because it was all so relevant for me and spoke to my heavy emotional needs as a recently recovering addict. I was already howling at the moon long before Will Oldham made it his signature connection for being himself a wolf.

I have spoken to Will a few times at concerts, we've emailed, I have sent him my first book of poems ZIMBLE ZAMBLE ZUMBLE hoping he would want to use some of them as lyrics. We are at the most simply acquaintances. Each time we have communicated it is, at least by my own perception, as if we have never met before. His eyes are bright and he listens intently. He is kind and considerate. He has a soft handshake, almost as if he is the anti-hand shaker and wants to be clear about it. Each introduction peels another layer off his persona for me, though I know I am getting only that exact moment's Will Oldham and he is apt to change as swiftly as he does on stage. He reminds me of the now-deceased artist Ray Johnson whose last performance piece was his own suicide back in 1995. There was a documentary done on Johnson called HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY which portrayed Johnson as a man with many friends who when their memories were put together they all seemed to know different things about him the others did not know. He was somebody completely different to everyone he knew. No one person knew the real Ray Johnson. And I think Will is like that, at least with his body of work. All of his albums are original and unique. You are never allowed a comfort level except for constant change. He will surprise you every time, and sometimes even seem to try to disappoint. He is without a doubt our greatest singer/songwriter since Bob Dylan, and Dylan has always maintained that he himself is simply just a song and dance man.

I could never choose for you my favorite Will Oldham record. It seems to always be the one that is currently playing on my Bose radio that I listen to before I sleep. I play his records each for a very long time. Lately Wai Notes has occupied the distinction of being my favorite and that album isn't really even an "official" release but actually a limited edition. It is a collection of demo songs for The Letting Go which was released in 2006. The album is comprised from recordings on tapes exchanged between Will Oldham (listed as Bonny Billy on this record) and Dawn McCarthy through the mail prior to recording The Letting Go . It is raw and beautiful. It hearkens back to the early period of The Palace Brothers, long before the Will Oldham moniker of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy became the norm.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy has released several albums, the actual count of which is hard to accumulate as do you count the live albums and the ones in which he very subtly changes a part of his name? But his latest endeavor, The Wonder Show Of The World , made with collaborator frontman Emmett Kelly of The Cairo Gang is for me his greatest work thus far. I am not saying this album is my favorite, I am merely stating that it is the most ambitious record for Will Oldham as he has turned to his personal voice as the most beautiful of all instruments he has ever played. Adding the guitar playing of Emmett Kelly as well as Kelly's own beautiful voice, the combination and chemistry between these two is some of the very best work you will ever hear.

A few months ago my wife and I attended a Motherlodge concert on Sunday, March 28 at Old Male High School in Louisville to benefit The Salvation Army Culinary Training Program. The concert featured Bonnie Prince Billy and The Cairo Gang, Louisville Leopard Percussionists, Tyrone Cotton, and Penny Arcade. After the concert there was a dinner in the basement provided and prepared by the culinary school which is made up of homeless people given a second chance. Now here is the good part. The Old Male High School has a great theater, old and with plenty of character, and we could sit anywhere we wanted to. Maybe two hundred people showed up tops in a theater capable of seating maybe a thousand or more. I could not believe the place wasn't filled to overflowing, but we were lucky and for fifteen dollars we not only got to view and listen from the second row Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and The Cairo Gang perform their new album, but the dinner downstairs had an amiable Will Oldham over in a remote corner accessibly greeting and speaking to anyone who approached him. I am distinctly aware that Oldham enjoys working for a good cause, and he quietly goes about it in the best of ways. There is no fanfare, no celebrity spot on the local evening news. And he certainly wasn't performing at the school for any personal financial gain, but rather as an integral part of his community, trying with his gifts, in his own way, to help others most in need.