myspace.com/princebonniebilly bonnieprincebilly.com Will Oldham is known for his "do-it-yourself punk aesthetic and blunt honesty," and his music has been likened to Americana, folk, roots, country, punk, and indie rock, although Oldham is dissatisfied with these labels: "I dont think its roots music, though its definitely influenced by Western popular music." He has been called an "Appalachian post-punk solipsist" and is notable for "his unique voice—a fragile sort-of warble frittering around haunted melodies in the American folk or country tradition." Producer Steve Albini commented on Oldhams approach to recording: “ He doesnt rehearse. ... He chooses the people he is going to play with shortly before the session, so everyone is playing by the seat of their pants, and the music is at constant risk, subject to the weaknesses of whoever is in the room. But he gets absolutely spontaneous moments of greatness you could not rehearse. ” Will Oldham first performed and recorded under various permutations of the Palace name, including Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music, and simply Palace. Regarding the name changes during this period (1993-1997), Oldham said: “ Well, I guess the idea is that when you have a name of a group or an artist, then you expect that the next record, if it has the same name, should be the same group of people playing on it. And I just thought we were making a different kind of record each time, with different people, and different themes, and different sounds. So I thought it was important to call it something different so that people would be aware of the differences. I mean, I do not want people buying my records and being disappointed that it does not sound like the last one... Within my own tiny little world, the first full-length Palace record is with one kind of musician and it was recorded in a certain type of way, while the second one was completely different-sounding and there was a fifth of the amount of people involved. The songs to me also seemed really different. And then the third record was another completely different recording environment and I had different kinds of musicians involved. So those things seemed different enough for me to alter the name. I will admit that that is just me in the process of moving forward without any benefit of perspective, distance, or time whatsoever. ” Beginning in 1998, Oldham has primarily used the moniker Bonnie Prince Billy, which draws inspiration from several sources: “ Yeah, the name has so many different references that it could almost have a life of its own. Bonnie Prince Charlie has such a beautiful ring to it, and I was very conscious of appropriating that mellifluous sound. And I was also thinking about the name Nat King Cole. But it wasnt until later, and this may have been subconscious, that I remembered that Billy the Kid was William Bonney or Billy Bonney.” Oldham has explained that "the primary purpose of the pseudonym is to allow both the audience and the performer to have a relationship with the performed that is valid and unbreakable."

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cassmccombs.com Armed with a deep fount of Catholic lyrical references and a falsetto that could charm the chastity belt off of a 19th-century Puritan, Cass McCombs sculpts a cozy little niche among the fickle crevasses of contemporary Americana. Though the ceaseless pounding of opener "Lionkiller" suggests a plate of bona fide rockers to follow, softer, more cascading helpings of McCombs songwriting repertoire prevail, refining the signature melodies developed on previous CDs PREfection and A. The result is a fine, sonic demi-glace, best encapsulated by lead single "Thats That." By the time the song closes in blossoming layers of vocal and guitar harmonies, the song has focused everything McCombs does best: flaunting his knack for pictorial storytelling, lush vocal timbres, and the compelling gravity of a good mid-tempo groove. The second half of the album resides largely in a fantasy realm of drowsy elegance. Sounding like a perfectionist Donovan lost in A Midsummer Nights Dream, McCombs campfire balladry ("Full Moon or Infinity"), percussive breathing ("Deseret"), and love of cavernous reverb ("Windfall") culminate in an almost overwrought beauty that defies listeners not to lose their bearings in its relentless caress. --Jason Kirk