Bill Callahan
Woke on a Whaleheart (Drag City)

You could say this is Bill Callahan’s debut
album. Although he’s sired a dozen albums
under the name of Smog, he has laid that name
to rest and, well, WOKE ON A WHALEHEART.
Another debut.

With the same maverick spirit of, say, a
Nilsson or a Cat Stevens, Bill Callahan has
made an album that is born of no school of
music other than what is in his heart and soul.

Boasting the propulsive, glittering and
classically pretty arrangements of Neil
Michael Hagerty, this album manages to
bypass the trends of the modern day while
shunning retro entrapments.

With a mix of gospel backing vocals by Deani
Pugh-Flemmings of the Olivet Baptist Church,
the incediary guitar work of Pete Denton, and
the honeyed violins of Elizabeth Warren, the
music on this album touches on gospel, tough
pop and American Light Opera.

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