Event

Bill Callahan

Bill Callahan's new record, 'Dream River,' will be released on September 17 on the esteemed Drag City label, Callahan's longtime home. Recorded at Cacophony, TX, earlier this year, 'Dream River' features eight performances that are easily the most sensual and soulful of Callahan's career. Whether flying home in a small plane, drinking with the sleeping inhabitants of a hotel for company, painting boats for the summer or flying towards the sea along the path of the dream river without the aid of any craft, Bill Callahan is speaking to us in a voice - that "gorgeous thing" (New Yorker) - that belongs to him and only him. 'Dream River' follows 2011's 'Apocalypse,' which prompted the New York Times to call Callahan "one of our best lyricists."

Bill Callahan showed up on our porch in 1991 saying his name was Smog. We took him in and he has been with us ever since. We think you will feel the same way about him once you look into his hungry eyes. Over the years he reminisced about "Cold Blooded Old Times" and told us to "Dress Sexy At My Funeral," releasing over twenty records as Smog and then, unfettered, as Bill Callahan. He is a recording studio guru, a tastefully rampant singer-songwriter, a heartthrob, a visual artist, a statesman for the times and an author.

After a couple albums recorded at home in the early 90's, he began recording in studios and teamed up with potent individuals such as musician/arranger Jim O'Rourke. His output has been constant for two decades and his tours have become larger and more impressive. Bill's songs have been featured in films such as High Fidelity, Dead Man's Shoes, and Youth in Revolt, all of which feature Zach Galifinakis (or should). Artists as diverse as Gil Scott-Heron, Flaming Lips and Cat Power have recorded his songs.

In 2007 Bill Callahan dropped the pseudonym and begin releasing his albums under his own name.