Between the dawn of the 1990s and 2014, Maryland troubadour Bill Callahan headed into the studio with metronomic regularity, producing 18 albums worth of tortured musings on isolation and alienation – firstly as Smog and later as himself – all delivered in his laconic and gravelly baritone.
Bill’s two-and-half-decades of unimpeded creative flow was then stemmed for half a decade by marriage, parenthood, and the passing of his mother.Last year, when the fog of grief and parental sleep deprivation lifted, though, Bill emerged with the first double album of his career, 'Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest' – a homage to domesticity that has been hailed as perhaps the finest release of his storied career.
On the fifth track of that record, 'Writing', Bill affirms that “it sure feels good to be writing again, clear water flowing from my pen”.
For an artist who has spent his career delivering universal truths from behind the veil of fiction, where songs and entire albums were written from the perspective of characters, the lyrical transparency displayed on his new album marks a new epoch in his career. “It felt like the right thing to do this time,” Bill explains.
“Living such a domestic life all a sudden, I wanted to, instead of fantasising my way out of it with characters, I wanted it to be like real life.
“For this record, it was the way it had to be, or just the way I wanted it to be. It made sense that that was the focus to the whole thing. It gave me permission to write about my life, it gave me permission to be me.”
Although the sudden onset of domesticity following his marriage to Hanly Banks, the documentary film-maker who made ‘Apocalypse: A Bill Callahan Tour Film', and the birth of their first child, ultimately brought Bill a long, sought-after sense of contentedness, the transition from being a musician to being a father and then back to being a musician who is also a father was initially tough, as he explains.
“It felt, while it was happening, desperate and worrying enough for me to start going to a therapist to try to figure out how I was going to be a father and a musician at the same time.
“Because I was so used to being a musician for so long, but then I figure when I look at the finished record, it seems like something that would have taken me a couple of years to have written all that. So in retrospect it doesn’t seem that bad.
“With every record there’s the initial part where I’m mulling things over, just thinking in big terms that don’t actually produce anything that I could show anyone; it’s just my mind playing with things. The record always comes together pretty quickly. This time, I had a longer mulling period than usual.”
During his hiatus, Bill never doubted the creative magic would eventually return once he had the time to sit down and write. “Because I have been producing for so long that even during that five-year break, I know that it’s going to happen again. I’m pretty confident that I’ll keep making songs until my last breath.”
As he tours the album around Australia this March, Bill says his new compositions will continue to grow on stage. “The songs grow [and] mutate or grow up once you start taking them into various venues and in front of various crowds, indoors and outdoors.”
Bill Callahan 2020 Tour Dates
Wed 4 Mar - Hamer Hall (Melbourne)Thu 5 Mar - State Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 6 Mar - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
Sat 7 Mar - Golden Plains Festival (Meredith, VIC)
Sun 8 Mar - WOMADelaide (Adelaide)
