Browse by Artist: CALLAHAN, BILL

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Letters To Emma Bowlcut
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	Book
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	DC 268BK

"After years of writing songs and singing them into the space in front of him, Bill Callahan has written a book of words to go out into that space as well. Letters to Emma Bowlcut is just that, the letters from a boy to a girl. It is in fact one side of the story, and as such is a meditation on solitude, at times tracing a relationship but mainly making the expressions of a person's soul secrets that are too difficult to impart face to face. As the first letter says, 'I couldn't talk to you but I had to write to you.' A fiction with a nameless protagonist, Letters to Emma Bowlcut collects sixty two letters from a few seasons in the sun as he reaches repeatedly outwards, addressing himself to Emma whether countering her unseen words or more often, exploring the possibilities of explaining his self. To entertain, to explain, to seduce or induce a reply, all his intentions are bound together in the letters, which come across alternately as diary entries, tall-tale confessionals and yes, letters. Our writer is up to the tasks, sifting the loose details of his day-to-day, giving emotional weather updates, advising, narrating and delivering dry punchlines with incredible timing. Letters to Emma Bowlcut captures the sensual and esoteric qualities of letter correspondence that cannot be duplicated by any fancy digital technologies -- your emails, texts, and the IM. Damn all this modern convenience! There is something in the time it takes the post to deliver and the object that eventually arrives that evokes an intimacy, a passion; a desire to be known and an opportunity to present oneself in the internal fantasy of everyday's secret internal dialogue. To paraphrase an old adage of the entertainment industry, when fact meets fiction, print the legend. Where comedy meets poetry, print the pros." 80 pages; soft bound; cover price: $12.98.

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Woke On A Whaleheart
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 332CD

"You could say this is Bill Callahan's debut album. Although he's sired a dozen albums under the name of Smog, he has laid that name to rest and, well, Woke on a Whaleheart. Another debut. With the same maverick spirit of, say, a Nilsson or a Cat Stevens, Bill Callahan has made an album that is born of no school of music other than what is in his heart and soul. Boasting the propulsive, glittering and classically pretty arrangements of Neil Michael Hagerty, this album manages to bypass the trends of the modern day while shunning retro entrapments. With a mix of gospel backing vocals by Deani Pugh-Flemmings of the Olivet Baptist Church, the incendiary guitar work of Pete Denton, and the honeyed violins of Elizabeth Warren, the music on this album touches on gospel, tough pop and American Light Opera."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Woke On A Whaleheart
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 332LP

2010 repress, LP version. "You could say this is Bill Callahan's debut album. Although he's sired a dozen albums under the name of Smog, he has laid that name to rest and, well, Woke on a Whaleheart. Another debut. With the same maverick spirit of, say, a Nilsson or a Cat Stevens, Bill Callahan has made an album that is born of no school of music other than what is in his heart and soul. Boasting the propulsive, glittering and classically pretty arrangements of Neil Michael Hagerty, this album manages to bypass the trends of the modern day while shunning retro entrapments. With a mix of gospel backing vocals by Deani Pugh-Flemmings of the Olivet Baptist Church, the incendiary guitar work of Pete Denton, and the honeyed violins of Elizabeth Warren, the music on this album touches on gospel, tough pop and American Light Opera."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Diamond Dancer
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$5.50
Catalog #:	DC 335CD

"Bill Callahan is the man who used to record under the name Smog. Now he is Bill Callahan. He cut an album with Neil Michael Hagerty co-producing and arranging all the songs last. Bill decided to give people a head's up and a taste of what's to come by releasing a single from the album with an exclusive B-side that comes from the same sessions but won't be on the album. 'Diamond Dancer' is the story of a young lady having an epiphany on the dance floor while dancing alone. 'Dancing all by herself and not minding,' as the song says."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 385CD

"Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is the new Bill Callahan record. And at the risk of being redundant, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is about as beautiful an album as you can expect to hear sung circa 2009. True, it's early yet... but wait 'til you hear this record. Unfolding like a first view of paradise, then a slightly less ecstatic second view of paradise and then finally a glance back over your shoulder at that stupid paradise bullshit, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle surveys a landscape that grows organically, like the time two people spend together -- or the time one person spends alone (with another). One way or another, it's awfully pretty -- something's clearly making Bill feel like a natural man. And high in the saddle, with a pouch of Big League Chew and nine sweet new tunes in tow, he's riding herd over a diverse bunch of sounds by top-notch players. Sure, there's guitar, keyboards and drums, just like there's always been -- but arranger Brian Beattie brought some old friends back into the picture: violins and French horns. It's been awhile since Bill's gone out dressed up in strings and brass, but they still look good on him -- better than ever, in fact! Plus, recording in the big state of Texas has given Bill Callahan a panoramic sound-screen, filled with verdant and sparkling sounds, all of which allow him access to the depths of expression, allowing a gentle and stirring view of that which we call 'soul'. Singing as personal as ever while still spinning wild yarns and melodic guitar fictions, Bill Callahan's on an idyll we hope won't ever end. We can't grant his wish -- but we sure can love Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Apocalypse
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 450CD

"Essentially an ensemble recorded live in the studio, Bill Callahan's Apocalypse is the corpus delecti. Something happened here! If tape is like meat, this record is the whole hog! No cuts! Delectables and guts! In the opening salvo 'Drover,' the cattle is herded. Everyone is in this roundup -- this is the big one! Listeners! Laughers! Pundits! Wags! Haters! Hausfraus! Mr. Memory and Mrs. Future! Callahan, riding on the back of his band, corrals them all and guides them single-handedly through the Valley with love and ferocity. 'Drover' is the universal gathering, but 'Baby's Breath' is one man's plot of land. The focus turns again outward, next, in 'America!' Looking at 'the last 100 years,' -- which we reckon is about the narrative age of this LP -- 'America!' is a love letter if we've ever had the privilege to read one over someone else's shoulder. 'Universal Applicant,' then, is the looking deep within. The flame in the mirror. Canyons can look like cartoons even when they are real. Side two begins with 'Riding for the Feeling.' Saying goodbye to a mass, an ice floe. A wave that sweeps away and away and keeps coming back. It is breath. 'Free's' is the song of the truly free, the ones that know being free means being kept by the free. 'One Fine Morning' ends it all. The mountains that create the valleys of Drover bow down. 'Hey! No more drovering!' This record makes us wonder what has really happened in the last 100 years. And what will happen in the next 10. The soul of your country called and left you a message. Seven messages."

Artist:	CALLAHAN, BILL
Title:	Rough Travel For A Rare Thing - A Live Album
Label:	SEA NOTE
Format:	2LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	SN 016LP

"Finally! The Smog live album everyone always wanted for years and years has finally reached the public just in time to be a Bill Callahan record instead. Doesn't make a bit of difference -- Smog classics ride alongside Callahan hits with the same unforgettable gait. Rough Travel For A Rare Thing was recorded in Melbourne, Australia on November 8, 2007, at a club called The Toff. Which I think is a slang term for snob. Like, 'that bleedin' toff is a poofta.' In fact, the club was called The Poofta in the '80s. Australia's been good to Bill. They like him and he likes the ocean that surrounds them. Oh, and he likes them too, of course. And of course, they like the ocean, too. They are water people and he's a water person. It makes for good touring and killer live show recordings, as you will soon see. The show sold out in a matter of hours, which Bill's minders delightedly reported to their star, in order to get his spirits up for the show. They needn't have bothered -- Bill loves playing live, whether in front of sold-out houses or almost sold-out houses. In any case, it was a moment to remember when the band walked into the venue for the first time. Bill was like, 'Cool! There's a bar in my dressing room. Which way to the stage?' Then he found out he was standing on the stage. The place was small, I tell ya. Small. When Bill makes his records, he has a certain sound in his head which we hope can be extracted by the time the budget is maxed. The same thing happens on tour but we pay a lot less money for it to happen. For the sold-out tour all across Australia that this recording was taken from, the line-up was: three fiddle players who also sang back up, a drummer without cymbals and a bass player who also played harmonica. The idea was to have a strong, simple foundation with a lot of space left on top to be filled by the mystical strings and voice. And that's what came to pass. Rough Travel For A Rare Thing features Kate Connor, Lara Goodridge, Pria Schwall, Tim Rogers and Lawrence Pike and an audience of probably a hundred. But they were packed in there. And there were lots more out on the sidewalk in front -- honest!"

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