Sandy posted Bonnie "Prince" Billy a few days back, and coincidentally The New Yorker just came out with a story on Will Oldham, so I thought I'd post one too. When I was in high school, I traded tapes through the mail with my cousin Charlie. I got him turned on to some industrial, punk, and European music, while he got me into a lot of indie rock. He was really helpful, because I got frustrated trying to sift through the glut of "grunge" to get to the good stuff. (I wouldn't sit through Bush and Candlebox videos to get to the Afghan Whigs.....impatience was no virtue.)
Anyway, one tape he sent me was Palace Bros.' "There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You," followed quickly by Palace, Palace Songs, Arise Therefore, and so on. I loved all of it, but somehow when I made the transition from tapes to CDs I lost them all and never upgraded (except that original Palace Brothers album). But lately I've been getting hold of a smattering of albums under the BPB and Will Oldham names.
The surprising and interesting thing to me about the New Yorker article was Oldham's reminiscing about correspondence with Lydia Lunch and Danzig, two of my idols. I feel validated. But more surprising was his professed love for R. Kelly, even to the point of listing him alongside Merle Haggard and Leonard Cohen. Really? I guess I'll have to give him a listen....for now, here's Oldham covering R. Kelly's "The World's Greatest."
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