The Fresh Prince of Kentucky

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, aka Will Oldham, is a name who should be on everyone’s lips. Instead, in the current landscape of indie-folk/Americana he has been overlooked for the watered-down beige-athon that is Mumford and Sons. Many commendable elements of the current scene can be seen in Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s prodigious output; the stark, naked beauty of Bon Iver, the lyrical twist of Conor Oberst and Laura Marling’s ability to take your breath away with a tune. Thankfully, Mumford’s equation for success (an abundance of waistcoats, combined with inane choruses) is nowhere to be seen on any of the Prince’s eleven albums.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy embodies the DIY approach that I cherish

I was first introduced to Oldham with the astonishing album Beware, which, along with Down in the Light, is normally considered to be his best work. The lyrics are at times so intimate that it can be an awkward first listen. On ‘Beware Your Only Friend’ he presents an eerie warning to “watch out for my silent thoughts”. The track ‘You Don’t Love Me’ stands out as a heart wrenching account of a man who sings to his lover “you wouldn’t pass the time with me, except you’re tired of all your friends”. The brutal honesty of Oldham’s words are sometimes disconcerting but, sang against a beautiful setting of lilting guitars and a choir of swooning backing singers, one can find a theme of hope lining the album. Throughout this collection of anti-love songs, he never gives up that his perfect woman is “lying curled somewhere lonely” waiting for him.

I find it refreshing that Will Oldham is a man who refuses to play the media and promotion game. There is little or no build up to an album release and this means that each record feels unexpected when it does arrive. His latest album, Wolfroy Goes To Town, may have passed many by but it deserves to be listened to by a large audience. It successfully continues his style of mixing hauntingly beautiful melodies with dark subjects although does not reach the heights of previous releases.

Some of my friends cannot understand why, as an avid listener of lo-fi New York punk, I would recommend something which arguably verges on country music. My response is that Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy embodies the DIY approach that I cherish, and combines it with lyrics so distressingly fragile that one cannot help but connect with him. So, I urge all the wannabe Mumfords out there to put to down their accordion and pick up a copy of Beware to listen to the master at work.