***Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You is a tale as old as time. It’s an album. Its songs and music are by and for people together. For listening together. Before it gets too late. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy stands at the nexus of all the kinds of music he can summon, with friends, with family and community. All roads roll though him. There can be no holding back. A million billion moments are on the line. He’s gonna tell us about a world... Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You was recorded in Louisville by Nick Roeder, featuring Sara Louise Callaway on violin, Kendall Carter on keys, Elisabeth Fuchsia on viola and violin, Dave Howard on mandolin, Drew Miller on saxophone and Dane Waters’ voice.
CD $13.75
08/11/2023
LP $25.75
08/11/2023
MC $12.75
08/11/2023
***BONNIE PRINCE BILLY's first album of new original songs since 2011's Wolfroy Goes To Town. “This whole record is intensely inspired by the 50th state. In fact, for a while there the working title of the record was 49th State of Mind, after the mid-20th century Hawaiian music record label optimistically and ultimately erroneously called 49th State Records. The songs likewise are influenced by certain Hawaiian musics, mainly the recordings of Johnny Lum Ho and Edith Kanaka’ole; also by the recordings of Jake Xerxes Fussell; by the songwriting of John Prine, Susanna Wallumrod and Tom T. Hall; by the neo-Zydeco cassette compilation Trail Riderz Vol. 1; and by the desire to have some songs that might be learned on the fly at get-togethers at my friend David ‘Fergie’ Ferguson’s house. As these songs were worked on, in the night, my wife would wrap her pregnant body around mine while I sang the songs over and over and over. They’re the first music that our daughter heard. The arrangement and production of the record come dominantly from the players themselves and the very circumstances in which the recording of this record was undertaken. DANNY KIELY played bass on this, as he had done on Wolfroy and Best Troubador and the Babblers tour as well as Funtown Comedown and many other musical adventures. The mighty mighty MIKE HYMAN plays drums, NATHAN SALSBURG plays the lead guitars, JOAN SHELLEY sings along, and JACOB DUNCAN brought the power with his sax, his flute, his...
LP $28.50
11/15/2019
CD $13.75
11/15/2019
MC $10.50
11/15/2019
***"Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos by Susanna is a record that I’ve spent a lot of time with, and so this has been a long-imagined project, an attempt to understand or, better yet, experience the mysteries of that record. the lyrics are repetitive, almost like nursery rhymes for undead teenagers. Why is it so scary, why is it so sweet, why is it so comforting and disruptive at the same time. After EMMETT and CHEYENNE and I made Chijimi, I thought we were really onto something, and it felt like we’d made an ideal laboratory/process for reproducing the cosmos record. It’s taken a many years to get back into this lab, though. and I thought to expand the lab personnel by one, CHRIS RODHAFFER, would be a good way to fuck with the control."
LP $19.50
04/20/2018
CD $13.75
04/20/2018
***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.4 rating from Pitchfork. With Best Troubador, BONNIE PRINCE BILLY pays homage to a long-time and forever hero, the late Merle Haggard. A singer who, some 25 years previously, first performed in public by playing a Merle Haggard song, Bonny has often cited Merle’s work in performance, on records and in conversation with anyone who was around, even talking to Merle himself for Filter magazine in 2009. Merle’s body of work was considered by Bonny for a record such as this for some time, but his passing in April of 2016 almost put a stop to it. The goal was to participate in the handing forward of the songs of a living legend, as Merle had done so many times in his own career. Best Troubador flips through his song book, landing on pages unmoored from their time and located anew. Moving from 1978 to 1969 to 2003 to 1981 allows the album to circle Haggard’s music in a simulation of thought and memory, slipping around from spot to spot as if they were discrete impressions, unknown but knowable yet. Dedicated to new life and old, Best Troubador is wistful and bittersweet and no lament at all,v but a tribute instead, for the triumph of a life spent in unending pursuit of the goal: new and expressive music, as our inspirations and heroes once sang it.
CD $13.75
05/05/2017
2XLP $23.50
05/05/2017
MC $10.50
05/05/2017
***Received a 7.0 rating from Pitchfork. ***There are no Peel sessions anymore—that tradition was buried in the pyramids with John Peel himself upon the great man’s passing. Of the thousands left in the wake, six are ascribed to BONNIE PRINCE BILLY—and of those six, three have been combined to form the deeply congruous experience of Pond Scum. A span of eight years is covered, in reverse, and many chestnuts are rolled out, freed of former contexts with sparse arrangements. “(I Was Drunk at the) Pulpit” feels, ten years from inception, more vividly worn; “Death to Everyone” is loosed from its frame, the bones decoupled and spread out, giving the song a reflective air (as opposed the biting declamation of the original); “Arise, Therefore” adapts its metronomic base, the evangelic twist of its roots made palpable. With the center of the performance in stark relief, the gnomic qualities of two “Get On Jolly” pieces are intensified. Further accenting the devoted spirit of this collection is the inclusion of “When Thy Song Flows Through Me,” from the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, as well as the previously-unreleased original “Beezle.” Bonnie’s lone shadow casts over this lot, accompanied on the first four tracks by David Heumann, but otherwise playing solo through a set of original songs (and two covers) representing a decade of progress in the almost unbearably intimate-yet-unknowable manner that was so often the vibe of those strange and wondrous days. Peeling backwards through time produces a curious hypnosis that we may not...
LP $21.50
01/22/2016
CD $13.75
01/22/2016
MC $8.50
01/22/2016
***Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues is the 11th new full-length album from the mind, soul and voice of the man that is BONNIE PRINCE BILLY. His first solo record on Drag City in nearly three years, it is a rich and roiling time of life that is captured in a myriad of moments throughout all the songs here. Throughout Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues, mythos is in the wind, trysting with truth and the joys of song, of singing and playing in open space; harmonies and acoustic instruments spread in bright stereo sound, accosting in the air between the speakers and going deep, without hesitation into our waiting and needing minds and souls. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy sings for who he was, is and will be, and for all of us in time. Singer’s Grave a Sea Of Tongues was recorded in Nashville by MARK NEVERS and played by Bonny, with EMMETT KELLEY, BEN MARTIN and PAUL OLDHAM. Additional instrumental contributions were made by RICHARD BAILEY, BILLY CONTRERAS, TONY CROW, JEDD HUGHES, PAUL NIEHAUS, and CHRIS SCRUGGS; additional voices provided by CAROLINE PEYTON and ALFREDA MCCRARY-LEE, REGINA MCCRARY and ANN MCCRARY singing together. (STREET DATE - 9/23/2014)
LP $21.50
09/23/2014
CD $13.75
09/23/2014
MC $10.50
09/23/2014
***BACK IN PRINT!!! There comes a time in a man’s life where he has to take stock, and it is good that if during the time of stocktaking, he can look back with friends (and his brokers) by his side. This isn’t just true of men, but princes as well. On Now Here’s My Plan, BONNIE PRINCE BILLY circles back to six of his tunes, plucked from such notable years as 2009, 2005, 1996, 2001, 2003 and 1998. These new takes were played with BEN BOYE, VAN CAMPBELL, EMMETT KELLY, DANNY KIELY, and ANGEL OLSON, all of whom are Wolfroy Goes to Town players and veterans of Bonnie ‘Prince’ tours of recent vintage. What’s more, this EP was recorded by STEVE ALBINI, the engineer of record on the very first Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy album back in 1996! The recording was made at Electrical Audio in Chicago.
CD $11.25
07/24/2012
12" $12.75
07/24/2012
Is it safe to say that Will Oldham has rarely met a recording device he didn’t like? The man who goes by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy continues to document feverishly--and yet with fine discrimination--via a steady march through the canon of modern music: rock, country, gospel, keep on listing... The great Leon Russell’s “Hummingbird” bookends this digital EP, and Bonny and his assembled cast of LA musicians render it an exercise in contrast. Using Russell’s famed Shelter Records soundboard for this one-off session--with its memories of Petty and Cale, and now owned by one Jonathan Wilson--Bonny introduces a pallet of musical soundscapes including the keys of "Farmer" Dave Scher, the porch-stomp grooves of Entrance Band rhythm section Paz and Derek and the claps of a thousand hands before letting the song "fly away" in a breeze of soulful psychedelia that stretches nearly twice the original’s length. Next up: a cover of the traditional “Tribulations,” with Cairo Gang mainman Emmett Kelly, in a purely Appalachian reflection on judgment and fear and all manner of Old Testament threat. Rounding out this EP, Bonny and band make a run at country master Merle Haggard's "Because of Your Eyes". As always, Oldham’s soulfully solemn voice comes to the fore in this spare arrangement. The bottom line is utter beauty. This version of "Because of Your Eyes" is only available on the inaugural (and very limited) Spiritual Pajamas Records 7 inch release, AKA Spiritual 000 which means, perhaps, that it really does...
MP3 $3.96
05/07/2012
FLAC $4.99
05/07/2012
***REISSUED ON VINYL!!! In this wake of BONNIE PRINCE BILLY’s soul-affirming (shattering?) Master and Everyone, the ‘Prince’ took a year or so to gather himself before The Letting Go. Stock was taken and a bunch of “greatest” Palace songs were rerecorded in best classic style, with a crew of Nashville studio wreckers smoothing down the edges. The result: another 15-song journey through the past, this time squeezing through the present as well. Four songs from the Lost Blues lineup confirms them as all-time greats. Also M.I.A. on vinyl since 2005 or so.
CD $13.75
03/30/2004
2XLP $20.85
04/24/2012
***Rooted in the same dark earth as Wolfroy Goes to Town, the two songs that make up the“The B-Sides for ‘Time to be Clear’ 7" single reach higher peaks, as sides of singles always should. Ever the trail-razer, BONNIE PRINCE BILLY hops into something funny here: a three-song 7" single with its head chopped off! Rather than try something silly like put the songs on a larger format, the b-sides are accorded the space they need to rock and groove while the A-side exists in our head, an echo of the epic, endless album that was Wolfroy Goes to Town. Starting with a familiar weary tone and limping gait-lessness, “Whipped,” quickly ascends to heights of emoting vocals not encountered throughout the entire album that preceded it. The comfy bob-and-strut of 21st century honky-tonk gives “Out of Mind” a sweet jukebox feeling, again creating a safe place for naked expression to occur in short order. Yes, the pleasures are fairly immense here, in the way that only two songs can provide.
7" $6.00
02/28/2012
***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.8 rating from Pitchfork. Wolfroy Goes To Town was recorded in Kentucky and mixed by SHAZAD ISMAILY, EMMET KELLY and WILL OLDHAM. In addition to BONNIE PRINCE BILLY, the players on this record are: BEN BOYE (keyboards and extra singing), VAN CAMPBELL (drums and percussion), Shahzad Ismaily (percussion, guitar, extra singing), Emmett Kelly (guitars, mandolin, harmony singing), DANNY KIELY (basses) and ANGEL OLSON (singing). Prior to the recording, the ten songs on Wolfroy Goes To Town were played by the whole band in performance at Chicago’s Millennium Park in May of 2011. Some of the songs were played and sung by Bonnie, Emmett Kelly and Angel Olson on the Free Florida tour that immediately followed. This is the first time any Bonnie album has been previewed in public before it was made in the studio!
LP $21.50
10/04/2011
CD $13.75
10/04/2011
***Blue. This is the sound of Bonny today. On this, his twenty-somethingth single (counting half a dozen halves at least), BONNIE PRINCE BILLY does SUSANNA WALLUMROD for the second time in the last two years. The first time was a tour-only 7-inch of duet covers sung with Susanna. “Stay,” is one of four songs covered by Billy and THE BEWARE band for inclusion in their 2008 tour set. All were recorded during the Beware recording sessions. The B-side is a live version of “People Living,” recorded in December 2008, and is bathed in a deep and natural reverb provided by a church outside of old Milano.
7" $5.60
10/20/2009
***The anticipated new album from BONNIE PRINCE BILLY (aka WILL OLDHAM of PALACE), his first since 2003’s Master And Everyone. Twelve beautiful songs enriched with strings and arrangements by RYDER McNAIR and NICO MUHLY, and the backing of “FILTHY” JIM WHITE, PAUL OLDHAM, EMMETT KELLY, and DAWN McCARTHY (FAUN FABLES).
LP $21.95
10/31/2006
CD $13.75
09/19/2006
DVD-AUDIO $15.00
09/19/2006
***A teaser EP to the forthcoming Then The Letting Go album from BONNIE PRINCE BILLY. You get the album track “Cursed Sleep,” backed by two exclusive gems, “The Signifying Wolf” and “God’s Small Song.”
CD $6.00
07/25/2006
12" $8.50
07/25/2006
***WILL OLDHAM returns under his BONNIE PRINCE BILLY moniker with a brand new live album featuring his best BPB songs. Seventeen songs that move from the rocking and raging to the whispered and lilting, all with different arrangements and drop-of-the-hat improvisations than heard on the studio recorded albums. Includes backing from DAVID BIRD, RYDER McNAIR, PINK NASTY, PAUL OLDHAM, MATT SWEENEY, PETER TOWNSEND, and ARAM STITH.
CD $13.75
11/15/2005
2XLP $17.25
11/15/2005
***A brand new miniature CD featuring a few more songs from WILL OLDHAM's Greatest Palace Music sessions. Includes the single-that-never-was "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow," the danceable gem "Pussyfooting," and the online-only "Blokbuster." Enhanced CD includes an "Agnes" video directed by British artist/animator DAVID SHRIGLEY.
CD $6.00
08/31/2004
***The third full-length album under the BONNIE PRINCE BILLY moniker from roots-absorbed singer/songwriter WILL OLDHAM (PALACE). Ten deeply introspective songs of self-love, emotional struggle, and complex relationships, featuring backing from friends TONY CROW, WILLIAM TYLER, MATT SWANSON, MARTY SLAYTON, and brother PAUL OLDHAM.
LP $21.50
02/04/2003
CD $13.75
02/04/2003
BACK IN PRINT!!!
LP $21.50
03/27/2001
CD $13.75
03/27/2001
***BACK IN STOCK!!! WILL OLDHAM's debut full length under the BPB moniker sets the porch coordinates for some unseen black hole, and sets off at Warble Factor 9. Eleven new tracks of unmistakable PALACE-style moody sweetness, all previously unreleased, and featuring long-time Palace players - DAVID PAJO, PAUL OLDHAM, COLIN GAGON, BOB ARELLANO, and PETER TOWNSEND.
LP $24.25
01/26/1999
CD $13.75
07/09/2002