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The closest thing we may ever see to a Will Oldham 'greatest hits' hits the shelves with the man himself re-recording a selection from throughout his opus.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie Sings Greatest Palace Music

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy unveils a kind of ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation, featuring new versions of well-loved songs, previously featured on albums released under many guises.

Following on from the release of the soaring magnificence that was last year’s Master & Everyone, Bonnie Prince Billy returns with Greatest Palace Music, recorded in the historic heart of old school US country music – downtown Nashville.

For years, Palace fans and friends have revelled in the knowledge of one of the world’s most unique songbooks. Now they can encounter some of the best-known of those songs all over again, in contrast and collaboration with the originals. Could this be Will Oldhams' most accessible record yet?

“Elegant, but infinitely grim, hillbilly noir...” – The Guardian

Disguise

Under the guise of the various ‘Palace’ labels – Palace Music, Palace, The Palace Brothers – and in former Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie recordings – Mr Will Oldham (for it is he behind each of these assumed names) has produced a plethora of stark, angular, wonderful, shambling folk tunes, from which the songs on this new collection are drawn.

Close to the sounds made by Bill Callahan’s excellent Smog – and related to the alt. country gothic tradition of bands like Blanche, Silver Jews or The Handsome Family - Will Oldham’s long recording career is contemporary to them all, but still somehow distanced from the rest of the alt. pack. Here he revisits some of the best destinations his various incarnations have taken us in the past, arriving at a new, lighter, more accessible version of virtually every track, which could very well find him reaching the ears of an audience far wider than his current cult status ever could.

For all those who enjoyed the outrage of songs like Riding, or The Brute Choir, fresh outrage may be pretty much expected. There’s no hard and fast, reductive reasoning to the way these songs have been reworked and remodelled by the Bonnie ‘Prince’.

The selection was chosen not by the songs’ author (there are a couple of covers in the mix, but the lions’ share are Oldhams’ own) but by the fans – and recorded with different musicians, in different locales, to the original recordings. The outcomes are different – a whole other best, a million miles away from a standard compilation album – and even further from the remix, cover and ‘live’ releases that seem to proliferate these days – this is not simply ‘Palace with strings’ – though the former and the latter both come to you with strings attached…

Nashville

While making a fine tribute to Palace music – and Palace fans everywhere, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie, his Nashville session cats (Eddie Bayers, Stuart Duncan, Mike Johnson, Bruce Watkins, Hargus Robbins and Mark Fain) and many friends have also rendered a sweet record that’s a tribute to the singular joy of being alive. Ten years later, the same songs mean more and more – and different - things, to him, to them, to you, to us all.

The collection has garnered praise from a variety of quarters, Claire Allfre, writing in Metro, said: “Oldham sandblasts his Palace back catalogue with an arsenal of lavish new arrangement, replacing the desolate brutalism of old with Lambchop-style country band music...what was once the acme of anti-pop has now acquired the gloss and access of easy listening.”

The full track listing looks like this:

New Partner
Ohio River Boat Song
Gulf Shores
You Will Miss Me When I Burn
The Brute Choir
I Send My Love to You
More Brother Rides
Agnes, Queen of Sorrow
Viva Ultra
Pushkin
Horses
Riding
West Palm Beach
No More Workhouse Blues
I Am a Cinematographer

Glasgow-based artist, David Shrigley, has made a promotional film for Agnes, Queen of Sorrow, from ‘Greatest Palace Music, which can be viewed by visiting Dominos website at: www.dominorecordco.com

The new long-player, with it’s easy on the ear country styles (available as a fabulous deluxe double gatefold vinyl LP – with the fourth side of the disc etched – as well as a standard CD version, by the way) could just be the release that sees Will Oldham - behind whatever assumed name he wishes to hide - reach his biggest audience yet.

Guarapero - Lost Blues Vol. 2

Name checked by the likes of Polly Jean Harvey, Will Oldham – in all his various guises – has for a long while been producing the sort of laid-back folk/country that people either love or loathe.

Manchester’s independent record shop Piccadilly Records called it a “Technicolor re-rendering of the fans' favourite Palace songs. Moving away from the sparseness of previous releases, the playful attention to melody here will entice a whole new audience, without (fans will be pleased to know) compromising the emotion and honesty at the core of Will Oldham's work.”

For those intrigued by this new collection, the whole Will Oldham back catalogue is well worth investigating – if only to hear the originals of some of these great tracks – and it’s all readily available, from Domino.

Recommended are: Master and Commander, Ease Down The Road, Get On Jolly and I See A Darkness (all as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie), The Mountain Low (as Palace), Arise Therefore, Joya and Guarapero - Lost Blues Vol. 2 (as Will Oldham), Hope (as Palace Songs), Days In The Wake and There Is No-One What Will Take Care Of You (as Palace Brothers) and Viva Last Blues and Lost Blues and Other Songs (both as Palace Music).

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie sings Greatest Palace Music is available now, on CD and gatefold etched double vinyl, from Domino.

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