Every year is a good year for music. 2025 is no different. Getting the tap on the shoulder to be a contributor to Aquarium Drunkard this past spring meant that I also participated in the 2025 version of AD’s annual Year in Review compilation. Its existence is conclusive evidence of my opening statement. Personally, I’veContinue reading “Favorite Albums of 2025”
Tag Archives: Bill Callahan
Stephen Malkmus Series: “Lariat”
Many of Stephen Malkmus’s songwriting contemporaries and forebears invite grand metaphors when considering their work. On this site alone, I’ve written about the closing of the American West in Bill Callahan’s songs “Drover” and “Baby’s Breath” as well as the hero’s journey and Guy Debord’s concept of dérive in “Where Are You Tonight? (Journey ThroughContinue reading “Stephen Malkmus Series: “Lariat””
Planets
This post was originally published on May 21, 2023 and was updated on July 29, 2024. “I do think that songs are little utopias for people to live in for three or four minutes.” Bill Callahan shared this sentiment during a 2022 interview with Uproxx to promote the release of his album YTI⅃AƎЯ, and itContinue reading “Planets”
Coyotes
In October 2022, Bill Callahan released YTI⅃AƎЯ, his third album of original compositions in three years, extending his run of putting out excellent new music after a substantial six-year gap between albums from 2013 to 2019. One of the many stand-out tracks on YTI⅃AƎЯ is “Coyotes”: The song begins with Callahan’s acoustic guitar establishing aContinue reading “Coyotes”
35
The third song on Bill Callahan’s 2020 album Gold Record is called “35”: The song starts with a simple guitar part from Callahan before Matt Kinsey joins in on a second acoustic guitar and provides a big bluesy fill. Callahan sings the first verse: I can’t see myself in the books I read these daysUsedContinue reading “35”
Cowboy
The image of the cowboy in the American West holds fascination and power. It’s a portable symbol that has been utilized for a variety of purposes, whether in entertainment, marketing, or politics. The cowboy myth was perpetuated in dime store novels and show business while the events associated with the Wild West were still happening.Continue reading “Cowboy”
747
At the age of 33, Bill Callahan — still releasing music under the name Smog — recorded “Permanent Smile” as the last song on the 2000 album Dongs of Sevotion: It’s a gorgeous song, propelled by loud, intermittent drums and a tinkling piano that is reminiscent of the irregular Philip Glass-y piano on “All MyContinue reading “747”
Son of the Sea
After 2013’s Dream River, Bill Callahan did not release an album of new original compositions for six years until Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest came out in 2019. During that time, Callahan and his wife had their first child, and it impacted Callahan’s mindset in many ways as he told The Creative Independent in 2019:Continue reading “Son of the Sea”
Summer Painter
In a 2019 interview, Bill Callahan was asked by The Creative Independent about the act of songwriting and if it had altered for Callahan since he first started: “I think for me that’s something that has never changed. When I’m in the flow of writing, I feel like I’m working on my first record allContinue reading “Summer Painter”
Spring
There is a line running through Bill Callahan’s songwriting that is similar in approach as nature writing, one that was previously referenced in an earlier Recliner Notes post. Another good example of Callahan working in this mode is the song “Spring” from his 2013 album Dream River: The song opens with a riff on electricContinue reading “Spring”
Recliner Notes 