The mercurial and prolific Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie “Prince” Billy, invites you to yet another tent revival.
Oldham is never one to rest for long, especially when it comes to taking on new collaborations that perfectly complement his shapeshifting approach to roots music. Oldham’s latest partner is Cheyenne Mize. The result is a gorgeous, six-song historical jaunt called Among The Gold.
Together, Oldham and Mize dust off antique canticles and torch ballads written between 1873 and 1915. Though they fully adopt each duet as their own, Among The Gold craftily retains the sparse arrangements and intimacy of traditional American standards, and the packaging for Among The Gold parallels the songs’ bucolic charm.
Fans will certainly find the album’s steamboat folk evocative of Oldham’s earlier albums, such as Master And Everyone, while Mize’s warm and whispy vocals carves a truly unique niche for Among The Gold in the Bonnie “Prince” Billy repertoire. However, everyone will agree their documentation of simple, classic duets is a refreshing, intriguing slice of Americana not to be overlooked.
Vinyl out of print.
Tracklisting:
“Silver Threads” (1873. Music: Hart Pease Danks. Words: Eben Eugene Rexford)
“Love’s Old Sweet Song” (1914. Music by J.L. Molloy. Words: G. Clifton Bingham)
“Beautiful Dreamer” (1864. Music & Words: Stephen C. Foster)
“Let Me Call You Sweetheart” 1910 (sheet music) (Music: Leo Friedman. Words: Beth Slater Whitson)
“Kiss Me Again” (1915. Music: Victor Herbert. Words: Henry Blossom)
“Only A Dream” (1909. Music: Harry J. Lincoln. Words: George Graff, Jr.)
