Will Oldham, aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy, on the song that changed his life

Episode notes

(Photo: Jamie Kelter Davis)

The Song that Changed My Life is a segment where some of our favorite artists set aside their “singing mic” and pick up their “talking mic” to tell us about the songs that make them who they are. This time around, we’re joined by singer-songwriter Will Oldham.

Better known as Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Or Palace Brothers. Or just Palace. He’s recorded under a lot of names.

Oldham’s work has spanned three decades now. He’s recorded dozens of albums and has fans in every corner of the world. A few included Johnny Cash and Rosalía, who both covered his classic tune “I See A Darkness”

This year saw the release of the twenty-first Bonnie “Prince” Billy album. It’s called Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You. It’s a spare, interior record. Deceptively complex, haunting and beautiful.

When we asked Oldham about the song that changed his life, he picked a spare, interior, haunting song. One that, we’ll admit, we hadn’t heard before – “Horses” by Sally Timms.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

Will Oldham

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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