Drag City
2007
Ask Forgiveness
About This Album
As 2007 wound down, Will Oldham, as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, entered the Hexam Head studio in Philadelphia with Greg Weeks and Meg Baird and recorded seven cover tunes and a lone original. Given Oldham's delightfully idiosyncratic method of working, one would expect these tunes (titled only by their writers' names, so it's up to you to figure out what songs he's actually singing) to be radically strange versions of songs both popular and somewhat obscure. While it's true that these are not straight-up readings, they are also far from strange. In fact, what Oldham has done is create a half-hour of relaxed -- if sometimes harrowing and melancholy -- personally interpreted music he enjoys performing. Despite the fine sound and full presence of both Oldham and Baird, there is the distance of reverie, memory, regret, and distance in these songs. There are no stutter steps, loose lyrics, or unexpected interruptions that have made earlier records more marginal, and perhaps -- to some -- more interesting. The bottom line is that only a songwriter could read these songs so subtly and yet inflect them with the kind of immediacy that makes them sound as if they were his own.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5 and 6)

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