You may know him as Will Oldham. You may know him as Palace, Palace Brothers or Palace Music. You may know him most recently under the wackiest of all pseudonyms, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. You may even know him from his cameos in funny little independent movies like Junebug. But truth be told, you’ve probably never heard of him at all. Don’t let that stop you. He’s genius. He’s pure curl-up-in-a-fetal-position-and-suck-your-thumb-because-you-can’t-believe-how-wonderful-his-is Genius. According to the Guardian, he’s the greatest American songwriter of the decade. I’d agree with that. You’ll want your liner notes, too, because his lyrics might make your brain explode they’re that good. I’ve been an obsessive fan of his for years now, and I still don’t have all of his albums yet– he’s both that prolific, and they’re so good that you really need some time to fully sink your teeth into them. It always gives you something to look forward to, though. If you want a good place to fall in love with him, start how I started back with Ease Down the Road. I listened to almost nothing else for about 3 months, because there just wasn’t any other album that could measure up. So, yeah, you’ll want to pencil in some time on your calendar.

What does he sound like? Do you still really need to know that when I tell you he’ll change your life?

Okay, fine. He’s a lot folky, a little country (more so some days than others) and he has this high, crackling voice that will break your heart in a way that feels so good, you’ll beg for for him to break your heart some more.

(So, yeah, this is still a poetry blog. Really. We just thought since we both have so many other things constantly rolling around in our heads, we’d mix it up with other cultural pursuits on occasion. Okay? ‘kay.)

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