James Miller, who shot the accompanying photographs for this review, remarked upon arriving at The Miracle Theatre, “This guy has a lot of records.”
Even considering his making music for more than 30 years, Bonnie Prince Billy — the moniker used by Louisville, Kentucky’s Will Oldham for most of his releases — is prolific, sometimes releasing multiple records in the same year. In addition to his solo releases, he’s made albums with Matt Sweeney, Bill Callahan, Trembling Bells, Picket Line, Cairo Gang, Dawn McCarthy, Bitchin Bajas, the National’s Bryce Dressner, Three Queens in Morning, and Nathan Salsburg. Whether working solo or with others, the spare, ethereal qualities of his melodies and voice, and the haunting nature of his lyrics, always comes through, and it’s made him one of the most respected indie artists of the last three decades.
In his recent turn at The Miracle Theatre in DC, Bonnie Prince Billy treated the audience to a gorgeous journey through the gothic Americana he’s so well known for.
BPB’s most recent album, The Purple Bird, released earlier this year, leans into his country influences and was made (in part) in Nashville. He wrote some of the songs, like “Boise, Idaho,” with Nashville figures like Pat McLaughlin, and, even on the tracks he wrote himself, like “Tonight With the Dogs I’m Sleeping,” a BPB title if ever there was one, there’s a pronounced honky-tonk influence. On August 6, he opened the show with the album’s sole cover from the record, the Clark Sisters’ “Is My Living In Vain?,” a song that makes perfect sense for him.
While there was plenty of new material in the set, BPB also threw in an eclectic bunch of songs from his extensive catalog. He went all the way back to his days releasing music under the Palace name with “The Mountain Low,” and he claimed that his performance “Today I Was the Evil One” was his first in 20 years. The set also included “In Good Faith,” “Behold! Be Held!,” “Blood of the Wine,” “Crazy Blue Bells,” “Life Is Scary (Horses), and finished with “Like It Or Not.” In addition to his own “Trees of Hell,” the encore included two covers I wasn’t familiar with: Tommy Duncan’s “Relax and Take It Easy” and Gayana’s “Draw Something Beautiful.”
Stream “Trees of Hell” by Bonnie Prince Billy on YouTube:
One might think that, given the nature of his music, Will would be a dour, serious fellow, but he’s actually quite funny, even warm. Before playing “The Water’s Fine,” he said, “This is such a strange city. People are going out to see music when they could be burning down buildings.” He added, “I wouldn’t be able to take it.” He doesn’t take himself too seriously: Introducing “Lay and Love,” he admitted, “I make a lot of weird faces. It’s in tribute to Ozzie Osbourne.” (I can relate: my mom often accuses me of “making a face.” He teased the audience by saying he had “the best Ozzie Osbourne, but it’s private.” Will even played to the crowd a little by mentioning how the song “London May” (named for the musician) began its life at Dischord Records, at the Reptile House.
In addition to the dark nature of his material, BPB comes from an intellectual place. In a recent New York Times interview, he talks about having rarefied reading habits that make it hard to find anyone who shares his interests, which is something I can relate to. While he’s been covered by Johnny Cash, he’s not trying to write music with mass appeal: He’s creating distinctive, unique art with a strong authorial voice that attracts a limited but highly passionate following. The people who know his music rave about it.
Experimental Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji opened the show with an instrumental, acoustic set. It was completely different from BPB’s music, but it also made total sense, in that it’s the sort of exploratory art that one would expect. Is a left turn still a left turn if you know a left turn is coming? I suppose it is, because this was a left turn we knew was coming.
I’ve seen BPB a couple times now, and he’s used an entirely different instrumental setup each time. The band did a great job of creating the atmosphere demanded by his songs, which is not an easy task, giving how distinctive they are. It was a night of beautiful music that tuned us into what Greil Marcus called the Old Weird America.
Here are some photos of Bonnie Prince Billy performing live at The Miracle Theatre in DC on August 6, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of James Todd Miller.
