Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Sings Greatest Palace Music
(Drag City)
Since the release of There is No One What Will Take Care of You Will Oldham and his music have constantly been surrounded by a cloud of mystery and enigma, partially due to his fans and partially self-imposed. Always keeping a very low profile it's only natural that someone with such an intriguing personality and an undeniable gift for songwriting would elicit a huge amount of discussion and speculation regarding his eccentric personality. His reputation for being "weird" is so strong that The Wire criticized Master & Everyone, an album that could be described in no other way than completely sincere, as being "too normal." Listening back to old Palace records I can hear almost nothing that could possibly be described as "weird." In fact, if you listen to later records, especially Ease Down the Road and Master & Everyone, you can clearly hear a move towards music that is more traditional and conventional. Where does his reputation as a weird musician come from? The answer can only be that people have focused more on the man's personality than his music which is practically the definition of pretension and has no place in music criticism. What seems to be happening is that Will Oldham is decidedly trying to get away from the weirdo reputation inflicted upon him in favor of being known for what he actually is: a songwriter. It's simple to detect when in interviews he is quoted as saying, "I just want to write music." How can he defeat the image that has been projected on him and move beyond the world of indie posturing? Enter Sings Greatest Palace Music.
The 14 reconstructions of past Palace "hits" are presented in a way that is clearly aligned with modern country music. The album is impeccably produced with the same aesthetic sense (and yes, even the same musicians) as albums by people like Lyle Lovett and Alan Jackson, complete with pedal steel, horn arrangements, and a small line of female backup singers. From the moment "New Partner" begins it is clear just how "normal" the whole album is, and it seems that Will Oldham has gone to great lengths to present these songs that were once possessed of a striking sparseness and eccentricity as fully-formed examples of the Nashville country sound that dominates country radio in the U.S. The new versions of the songs are not better than the old versions nor are they any worse; they have been completely reformed based on a totally different set of criteria in a way that makes comparison to the originals a pointless act. It's impossible to say for sure why Will Oldham chose to make this album, but much of the evidence points to a longing to be considered "normal" yet beautiful. After all, he is no different from any of us—no better or worse—he has merely found his gift, and isn't that what we're all looking for?
If you're reading this then by now you've probably already made up your mind about this album and all I can hope to do is provide an honest and critical view on an already much discussed topic. I have been shocked in the first few days of its release to find such a large number of people who seem to think this album is some kind of a prank. Whether you like the album or not, you have to admit that it's dubious to assume that an artist of Will Oldham's caliber would go to such great lengths for a joke, and I find this implication to be completely misguided and immature. Why would we assume this album is a hoax when the artist in question has rarely been anything but sincere? Do his legions of supporters have so little respect for his music that they would assume he has no respect for them? Are we so locked into a microcosm that we're unable to think about music in any way that doesn't fit the social construct known as indie music? Is it so hard to believe that Tim McGraw's "Just to See You Smile" has merit? Why is it difficult to accept that Will Oldham would cover this song for any other reason? While these questions will most likely remain unanswered, it still stands that many people are unwilling to accept that new country music can be valuable. Just like pop music, new country music is steeped in commercialism and cliché but both still possess traits that are valuable to all kinds of music, and neither genre should be subjected to total dismissal. Despite its shortcomings (and there are plenty, to be sure), country music has never pretended to be anything it is not—music about heartbreak and everyday life—and has a mass appeal on a level far greater than almost any other genre of music (all one needs to do is look at the success of country music radio in the U.S.). These are valuable traits. Greatest Palace Music has been made in a tradition that was formed and cultivated in the United States and is one of the only musical forms to be completely indigenous to this country. There is no hidden message, no underlying irony. It is simply good music made with joy and care by one our generation's greatest songwriters.
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