In this episode I speak to one of my songwriting heroes, Will Oldham, A.K.A. Bonnie "Prince" Billy. From Louisville Kentucky, Will has over the past thirty years forged a highly distinctive path as one of the great American songwriters of his generation. Recording under various iterations of the name Palace from the early 1990s onwards, before settling on the BPB moniker in 1999, Will has honed a songwriting style drawing on country music, old world balladry and classic rock, always tempered with his uniquely lyrical voice. Along the way Will has collaborated with Johnny Cash, who covered his 1999 classic I See A Darkness, Tortoise, Matt Sweeney, Dawn McCarthy, David Berman and Bill Callahan among many others. Will has also been booed by Bjork fans at the Holywood Bowl, taken the cover shot for Slint's Spiderland and followed his original calling of acting in movies (Old Joy, Matewan), among much else. 

Will and I discuss among other things his relationship with social media and promotion in general, the three books he read that inspired him around the time he started writing songs, the five mixtapes of Scottish traditional folk ballads that set him on a path toward songwriting, how Will feels about streaming (with some very pointed words for Spotify and its subscribers), and the family circumstances which led to perhaps his most personal album, the self titled “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy” (2015). We also discuss Will’s experience working with Disney, Moana vs Encanto, hunting Octopus, the time Will received a text informing him of an imminent nuclear attack, and why Will is especially looking forward to playing for Irish audiences again soon. 

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Show notes:

Will Oldham and Bill Callahan, Office Hours appearance (2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPwlApaMhRQ

Andrew Rinehart with Bonnie "Prince" Billy Friend of The Devil video (2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM4Di68q-Pk

Hugh Nissenson The Tree of Life: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/406215

Nick Cave And The Ass Saw The Angel: https://www.nickcave.com/books/and-the-ass-saw-the-angel

BPB Mixtape Vol 1 (2019): https://bonnieprincebilly.bandcamp.com/album/bpb-mix-tape-volume-1

Bonnie "Prince" Billy LP (2015): https://bonnieprincebilly.bandcamp.com/album/bonnie-prince-billy

Will & Elsa Oldham Bad Actor (morning TV appearance 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2vXfOOb6II

Louisville Academy of Music Presents Songwriting with Will Oldham (2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZDJoGn8LZg

Bonnie "Prince" Billy Squid Eye video (2019): https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YcHwPZ0Jz6Y&list=PLPZeYMWvwYnCgNfvn28KI2Bg0Q66LekXb

Bonnie "Prince" Billy and David Berman Outsider (2022): https://bonnieprincebilly.bandcamp.com/track/outsider

Bonnie "Prince" Billy High & High & Mighty (2022 Cassette/CD): https://haha.institute

Bonnie "Prince" Billy September 2022 tour dates: https://pitchfork.com/news/bonnie-prince-billy-announces-summer-2022-tour/

And finally...

Neil's new album Things Keep Getting In The Way is out now: https://neilbrogan.bandcamp.com/album/things-keep-getting-in-the-way

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In this very special episode I get the chance to talk to one of my favourite singers, Vashti Bunyan.

Born in 1945, Vashti Bunyan began her recording career in the mid 1960s. Her debut single, the Rolling Stones cover Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind was issued in 1965, and a string of recordings followed for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate records, but at the time few were released and none found the success they deserved. By 1968, Vashti had abandoned her pop career to travel the length of the England and Scotland in a horse drawn bread wagon, aiming initially for the Western Isles and eventually winding up in the Outer Hebrides. Along the way, she wrote the sequence of songs about her journey that would become the legendary album Just Another Diamond Day. Produced by Joe Boyd and featuring guest performances from members of The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention, the album went underpromoted at the time of release and languished for many years. In response, Vashti left the music business behind completely, or so she thought.

Vashti's new memoir Wayward is a beautiful recollection of that time in her life and I had the chance to talk to her all about it. We talk about being mislabelled first as a replacement for Marianne Faithfull and later as a "folk" artist, her early encounter with a very moody Cliff Richard, Mick Jagger's impersonation of her, her late blooming friendship with Andrew Loog Oldham, a disastrous attempt at collaboration with Nick Drake, finding out about her Romany ancestry, a very awkward encounter with Donovan, almost wiping the master tape of Diamond Day in a thunderstorm, and whether or not she is in fact descended from the ultimate pilgrim, John Bunyan. And of course we talk all about that epic journey.

Our conversation was recorded remotely in April 2022.

If you enjoy this podcast please consider leaving a rating or review, I really appreciate it.

Show notes:

Vashti Bunyan playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/64KxqaKycBGfnmpyCjQYtt?si=70f63b6e753c4652

Vashti Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind (Shindig! 1965): https://youtu.be/MQrQytsIU90

Tonight Let's All Make Love In London - Winter Is Blue recording (1967): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ-RLaHSCA0

Expresso Bongo clip: https://youtu.be/rZ0M1oFWhsg

BBC 'Everyman' documentary early 1970s: https://youtu.be/IoCe69tJ7TY

Don't Look Back (1965) - Donovan scene: https://youtu.be/Lc6HcA6kEJc

2007 BBC Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVLavhf10UM

Buy Wayward: https://www.whiterabbitbooks.co.uk/titles/vashti-bunyan/wayward/9781474621939/

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In this concluding part of my conversation with the writer Wendy Erskine, we talk in more detail about stories from Wendy's new collection Dance Move, including how the stories were sequenced in the book and how the artwork was chosen for the Stinging Fly and Picador editions. Wendy also talks about the course in short story writing which led her to becoming a published author, including some of the things she learned there. Finally we pick up our conversation around the playlist Wendy has put together for these episodes, discussing her choices and how they inform characters and stories in Dance Move.

Please note: while we try to avoid spoilers, if you haven't read Wendy's work before please be aware we do discuss many stories, and those in Dance Move in particular, at length.

If you're enjoying this podcast please take a few seconds to leave a review or rating if you can, it really helps.

Show links:

Wendy Erskine playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4fpH3KP5eIjafUxMRSKSvH?si=37f5922557d6464f

Dance Move: https://stingingfly.org/product/dance-move/

Support Ukraine:

https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

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