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”
Tag Archives: Dream River
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 