Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Once Again In The World (Selected Songs, 1998-2020) (2022)

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy is a voice, a perspective, a character through which Will Oldham has channeled his songwriting energy since the late '90s. He is never one version of himself for too long, always evolving as the earth spins.

This incredibly intentional, astoundingly original approach to artistic expression is articulated with warmth, humor, and generosity in the book 'Will Oldham On Bonnie 'Prince' Billy' (W.W. Norton & Company, 2012). Reading it really sealed the deal for me as a listener. He has found a way to live and work as an artist on his own terms: to play shows only in places he wants to be, to collaborate with the folks he wants to play with, to release records when and how he wants to. He does not seem to take this approach in order to have princely autonomy, in spite of the moniker, but rather to exist authentically in all the ways being a career musician might otherwise pull an artist away from their authentic origins. Will resists, and has maintained this beautifully enigmatic stance, to our serious benefit as listeners.

This music with a certain feeling and buoyancy, this successful embodiment of an idea, this persona with a wildly compelling voice created by a writer with an uncanny ear and eye – is represented in this hour-long compilation. As an elementary school teacher, I look back on making it a bit like one of my students looking at a final project for a unit they got really into and cared deeply about. A view from my seat in a room full of fellow enthusiasts. The glow of the interesting subject pulses like a star in the sky, always there.