Ask anybody who knows me well and they'll admit that I can be one stubborn bastard when I wanna be.For years -- YEARS, I tell you! -- I was a Will Oldham hater. With absolutely no basis, I had made up my mind that he was pretentious and insincere. I never bothered to listen to his records closely because I could somehow tell that it wasn't the genuine article.
Over the last couple years, though, I have finally discovered the error of my ways. Sometimes people can make up their mind about something... anything... and it's much more work to change their mind than it ever was to make up that mind in the first place. For me, I can't even remember when or where the Oldham hate started. I probably heard somebody playing some Palace record and thought to myself, "This guy thinks he's the next Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan, but he's not, so I think he's full of shit." And that flippant, instantaneous reaction blocked me from several years of great music from Palace/Will Oldham/Bonnie "Prince" Billy.
Now that I've come around, I can quite comfortably recommend his newest album, Lie Down In the Light. "You Want That Picture" is the standout cut on the album, a gorgeous duet with Ashley Webber (formerly of Canadian indie band The Organ).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Oldham
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