In 2023, Bonnie’ Prince’ Billy, the stage name of Will Oldham, released Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, his first solo album since 2019’s I Made A Place. Thankfully, there is no long wait this time around for his follow-up, ‘The Purple Bird’, out on January 31st (Domino/No Quarter). While the press image above shows Oldham sitting in solitude at his table with a trusty Olympia Traveller portable typewriter ready to capture his words, this album is all about ‘collaboration’–it’s stamped through this album like Blackpool rock candy; the product of multiple voices, it lends a fluidity to the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy persona we’ve grown to love.
The album was made in Nashville with producer David “Ferg” Ferguson. Sturgill Simpson once called Ferg a ‘hillbilly genius’ and said, “And when he talks you better shut up and listen.” I guess Oldham listened as, at the start of the sessions, Ferg told him, “I don’t wanna do a country record, just do your shit, Will.”
Their friendship dates back more than two decades to the sessions for the Johnny Cash album American III with Rick Rubin, where Ferg served as engineer and where Cash performed a cover of the Bonnie “Prince” Billy track “I See A Darkness”.
While Oldham has worked with Ferg before—he played the double bass on Superwolves—here, the collaboration is forged on a trust that feels deeper than ever. The album’s title takes its name from a drawing Ferg made as a second-grader, and he is credited as a co-writer on 7 of the 12 tracks. Ferg took 40 years before making his debut album, Nashville No More, in 2021, and like that album, on ‘The Purple Bird’, they call upon an equally impressive ensemble of A-listers, including Tim O’Brien, who also played on Ferg’s album. Here, his mandolin leads the way on ‘Our Home’, which, with its warm community spirit and sing-along chorus, is also our Song of the Day.
Talking about the collaboration in a typical down-to-earth manner, Oldham explains:
“I’ve made records with friends, collaborative records like The Brave and the Bold with Tortoise; the two Superwolf records with Matt Sweeney; The Wonder Show of the World with Emmett Kelly; Get on Jolly with Mick Turner. These collaborators get top billing because that’s how this business works. This record, The Purple Bird, is similarly a collaborative effort but the collaborator is the producer, David Ferguson. He’s a giant of a man, an epic musical force, a dear friend. Our work together on this record was the result of years of sharing hard times and great joys, songs and stories, of making music together and apart. There’s a lot of trust in this record on Ferg’s part and on mine, and the trust was hard- and well-earned. When I listen to the record, oftentimes I can’t help but laugh in wonder that life allowed me to participate in such a thing.”
Upon the album’s announcement, he also said on Twitter:
there are horrors out there; we're posting about this new record because there's hope in the record, because this is our life and it is worth appreciating and fighting for. thanks for listening and for paying attention to humanity. thank you thank you
— Boniface Billy (@signifyingwolf) October 22, 2024
In addition to Ferg and Tim O’Brien, country singer John Anderson, Ronnie Bowman, Pat McLaughlin, Tommy Prine, and Roger Cook also contributed to the songwriting. Anderson sings on the track “Downstream.” The sessions featured Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Russ Pahl (electric guitar), Pat McLaughlin (mandolin), Steve Mackey (bass) and Fred Eltringham (drums/percussion), with none of the tracks needing more than four takes; most were completed in under an hour. Brit Taylor and Adam Chaffin contributed backing vocals.
The Purple Bird Tracklisting
1. Turned to Dust (Rolling On)
2. London May
3. Tonight With the Dogs I’m Sleeping
4. Boise, Idaho
5. The Water’s Fine
6. Sometimes It’s Hard to Breathe
7. New Water
8. Guns Are For Cowards
9. Downstream
10. One of These Days (I’m Gonna Spend the Whole Night With You)
11. Is My Living In Vain?
12. Our Home
The Purple Bird will be released on Domino/No Quarter and is available to pre-order on purple vinyl, standard vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order: DomMart | Digital