photo by Jim Beckmann
He’s recorded under many names and his collaborations with others seem almost too numerous to track, but as soon as you hear to that voice straining, cracking and then slipping unexpectedly into rich mellifluence, you know immediately when you are listening to Will Oldham. Unmistakeable and impossible to imitate, the Louisville, Kentucky, bred songwriter got his start as Palace Brothers and Palace Music before eventually taking on the Bonnie “Prince” Billy moniker, and while he’s remained mostly a sort of a cult figure, albeit one whose popularity led him to sell out the Moore Theatre the last time he was in town, he broke into wide public awareness back in 2000 when Johnny Cash recorded his song “I See A Darkness” on American III: Solitary Man. Oldham’s recent interests brought him to the Northwest earlier this month on an unconventional tour consisting of free shows at record stores and independent stations like KEXP and KAOS in Olympia, all centered around a performance at Wolfhaven, a wolf sanctuary in Tenino, WA, where Bonnie “Prince” Billy played a free set on the grounds and even got the wolves to sing -- not surprising for a man whose last album is called Wolfroy Goes to Town! You’ll be howling with excitement as you watch this special, intimate performance recorded at KEXP and featuring a couple of new songs, one from Wolfroy and another a b-side, plus two older songs including a new rendition of “I See A Darkness.”
