Will Oldham or how the past deforms reality...

I bought Palace Brothers’ “There is no one what will take care of you” album around 1994. I immediately loved the record (bonjour tristesse) and went to see Will Oldham at the Lintfabriek in Kontich near Antwerp. Only a handful of people showed up and for once, the absentees were right because the show was a drag: the band played miserable country music and the self-indulgent navel-gazing made me leave the club after half an hour. On the way home, for one full hour I was stuck behind an exceptional road cargo that was transporting a huge part of a bridge and I was really pissed off: what a shitty night! Consequently, I didn’t follow Will Oldham’s career and didn’t bought any of his solo albums under the moniker of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. But last year, I saw the critically-acclaimed low budget film “Old Joy” in which Oldham plays one of two old friends who reunite for a weekend camping trip in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Although nothing much happens in the movie, it got stuck in my head and I still rate it as one of the most genuine movies of 2006. A definitely must see! So I become interested again in Oldham’s music and downloaded “I see a darkness” from 1999 and “Ease down the road” from 2001. On my way to the International Film Festival Rotterdam last January, I played the records for the first time in my car and it soon became clear that I missed a lot because songs so pure and honest through and through can only be made by an immensely talented singer-songwriter. I immediately bought both gems on CD and they are still in heavy rotation over here. Just last week, I stumbled upon this add in some local music magazine and it once again became clear that Will Oldham is pure gold! The only question that remains, however, is whether that sudden concert was really that bad…