Will Oldham

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Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox musical artist

Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After briefly publishing music under his own name, in 1998 he adopted Bonnie "Prince" Billy as the name for most of his work.

Early life and education

Oldham was born on January 15, 1970, in Louisville, Kentucky.<ref>Alan Licht (Ed.) (2012), Will Oldham on Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Faber and Faber Ltd., London, pp. viii. Template:ISBN.</ref> His mother, Joanne Lei Will Tafel Oldham, was a teacher and artist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His father, Joseph Collins Oldham, was an attorney and photographer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Oldham graduated from the J. Graham Brown School in 1988. He attended Brown University sporadically while pursuing a career as an actor, and living between Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and Bloomington, Indiana.<ref name="IPM">Template:Cite web</ref> He began making music during this time, initially as a project for his professor Jeff Todd Titon, an ethnomusicologist at Brown University.<ref name="wire">Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

File:Will Oldham 2017.jpg
Oldham in 2017

Oldham is known for his "do-it-yourself punk aesthetic and blunt honesty",<ref name="chico">Template:Cite web</ref> and his music has been likened to Americana, folk, roots, country, punk, and indie rock. He has been called an "Appalachian post-punk solipsist",<ref name="chico"/> with a voice that has been described as "a fragile sort-of warble frittering around haunted melodies in the American folk or country tradition."<ref name="chico"/>

Oldham first performed and recorded under various permutations of the Palace name, including Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music, and simply Palace. Regarding the name changes during this period (1993–1997), Oldham said: Template:Cquote

Will stated in a 1995 interview with KCRW that the name Palace Flophouse was inspired by reading John Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Beginning in 1998, Oldham has primarily used the moniker Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which draws inspiration from several sources: Template:Cquote

He has explained that "the primary purpose of the pseudonym is to allow both the audience and the performer to have a relationship with the performer that is valid and unbreakable."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Many of his solo albums are not available on Spotify, as Oldham disagrees with how they treat musicians.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Critical reception

Some of his albums, such as There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You (1993),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Viva Last Blues (1995),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and I See a Darkness (1999),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> have appeared on greatest albums lists.

Johnny Cash recorded a version of "I See a Darkness" on his American Recordings disc American III: Solitary Man (2000). Oldham provided backing vocals. Spanish singer Rosalía also recorded a version of "I See a Darkness" for her debut album Los Ángeles. Marianne Faithfull included Oldham's "A King at Night" on her 2003 Kissin Time tour. Steve Adey also covered "I See a Darkness" on his 2006 LP All Things Real. Mark Kozelek recorded a version of Oldham's "New Partner" on his 2008 disc, The Finally LP. Katatonia covered "Oh How I Enjoy the Light" on their 2001 EP Tonight's Music, and their song "Don't Tell a Soul" is about and contains an interpolation of the Palace Brothers song "You Will Miss Me When I Burn". In 2009 Mark Lanegan and Soulsavers recorded a cover version of "You Will Miss Me When I Burn". The release is a split single, backed with the Lanegan-penned "Sunrise" featuring vocals by Oldham. In 2011, Deer Tick's cover of Oldham's song "Death to Everyone" appeared in an episode of Hell On Wheels. Cadaverous Condition covered "Black" on their To the Night Sky album (2006).

Acting

Film and television

Oldham's first film acting role was as the teen preacher in John Sayles's film Matewan (1987), a dramatization of the life of Appalachian mining community in the 1920s and the Battle of Matewan. Following this, he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actor.<ref name="dallasobs">Template:Cite news</ref> He played the role of Chip McClure (father of Baby Jessica) in Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989), and the role of Miles in the film Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991). Oldham also played minor roles in Julien Donkey-Boy (1999), Junebug (2005), and The Guatemalan Handshake (2006).

In 2004, Oldham appeared as himself in the short documentary film Tripping With Caveh, wherein he took psilocybin mushrooms with autobiographical filmmaker Caveh Zahedi.<ref name="nyt">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="tripping">"Tripping With Caveh on Caveh Zahedi's Vimeo page.</ref> The project was intended as the pilot episode of a reality/documentary series, with the concept being that Zahedi would take psychedelics in the company of a different celebrity in each episode.<ref name="nyt" /> The project was never picked up by a television network, but the short with Oldham finally saw official release in the 2015 retrospective box set Digging My Own Grave: The Films of Caveh Zahedi.<ref>Factory Twenty Five: "Digging My Own Grave."</ref>

Oldham played a lead role as Kurt in Kelly Reichardt's film Old Joy (2006), and had a brief role in the director's next film Wendy and Lucy (2008). Oldham played Pastor Pigmeat in the "Horse Apples" episode of the second season of the MTV children's show parody Wonder Showzen and appeared in an episode of Chatman and Lee's subsequent television show, Xavier: Renegade Angel as a Reverend.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 2007, he starred alongside Zach Galifianakis in a music video for Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Also in 2010, Oldham appeared in Jackass 3D as a gorilla trainer. As part of an agreement to play that role, he wrote a theme song, in the style of a Saturday-morning cartoon show, for filmmaker Lance Bangs.<ref>Will Oldham Discusses Jackass 3D, Working on 'Blueprints' for New Album Template:Webarchive. Buzzgrinder.com (March 9, 2011). Retrieved on May 4, 2012.</ref>

In 2011, Oldham played a father telling a bedtime story to his son in David Lowery's short film Pioneer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, he appeared as "Prognosticator" in the feature film A Ghost Story, also directed by David Lowery.

Voice work

In 2009, Oldham narrated Madam and Little Boy, a documentary film about atomic weapons, directed by Swedish artist Magnus Bärtås. In 2010, Oldham narrated Music Makes a City, a documentary about the formation of the Louisville Orchestra, directed by Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Oldham provided voice work and inspiration for the character "Will" in the video game Kentucky Route Zero, released in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Oldham married the textile artist Elsa Hansen in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They had a child together in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Discography

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Studio albums

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1985 What Comes Around Young Tom Hawkins
1987 Matewan Danny Radnor
1990 Thousand Pieces of Gold Miles
1999 Radiation Will
1999 Julien Donkey-Boy Partygoer Uncredited
2005 Junebug Bill Mooney, scout
2006 Old Joy Kurt
2006 The Guatemalan Handshake Donald Turnupseed
2008 Wendy and Lucy Icky
2010 Jackass 3D Himself
2011 New Jerusalem Ike Evans
2014 Eden John
2017 A Ghost Story Prognosticator
2023 The Bikeriders Bartender

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1989 Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure Chip Mcclure Television film
2006 Wonder Showzen Pastor Pigmeat Episode: "Horse Apples"
2007 Trapped in the Closet Chapters 13–22 Sgt. Platoon Video
2008 Xavier: Renegade Angel Reverend (voice) Episode: "Signs from Godrilla"
2018 Animals Father Ferret (voice) Episode: "At a Loss for Words When We Needed Them Most or...
The Rise and Fall of GrabBagVille"
2020 The Midnight Gospel Bubble Max (voice) Episode: "Vulture with Honor"

References

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