It's hard to believe that during their decades-long careers,
Bill Callahan and
Bonnie "Prince" Billy's
Will Oldham didn't collaborate on a full-length until 2022's
Blind Date Party. Both
Oldham and
Callahan excel at combining folk, country, and rock in timeless and fresh ways, and their longtime label
Drag City is known for how its artists cross-pollinate each other's work.
Blind Date Party's origins stretch back to a tour
Callahan and
Oldham had planned with another labelmate,
Silver Jews and
Purple Mountains frontman
David Berman, before his untimely passing in 2019. Recorded remotely during the COVID-19 global pandemic, this project continues that feeling of friends uniting to celebrate music and each other as
Oldham and
Callahan cover songs from all over with the help of other
Drag City artists. Time has shaped their voices fascinatingly, adding comforting heft to
Callahan's baritone and resilience to
Oldham's warbly tenor. The former lends some warmth to the wry elegance of
Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues," while the latter adds a mystical melody to
Leonard Cohen's "The Night of Santiago," a spoken-word piece from his final album,
Thanks for the Dance. When they join their voices, they complement each other perfectly, whether on their hymnal version of
Cat Stevens' "Blackness of the Night" with
Azita or the blissful harmonies on their version of
Air Supply's "Lost in Love."
Callahan and
Oldham's collaborators are just as distinctive. The turbulent violin and guitar on this rendition of
Robert Wyatt's "Sea Song" are the unmistakable work of
Mick Turner, and
George Xylouris gives
Lou Reed's "Rooftop Garden" a fittingly lush acoustic makeover.
Blind Date Party's mix of contributors and song selections remains refreshingly unpredictable from start to finish, even when the results sound similar to
Oldham's and
Callahan's own work (with the help of
Alasdair Roberts,
Dave Rich's "I've Made Up My Mind" could pass for a
Palace song, and the gorgeous pedal steel on
Jerry Jeff Walker's "Night Rider's Lament" evokes
Smog's
Red Apple Falls). The album is especially delightful when everyone involved really shakes things up:
The High Llamas'
Sean O'Hagan helps
Bill and
Billy transform
Billie Eilish's "Wish You Were Gay" into bubbly space-age pop,
Ty Segall's blobby synths turn
Johnnie Frierson's "Miracles" into appealingly off-kilter soul, and
Cooper Crain reggae-fies
Iggy Pop's "I Want to Go to the Beach."
Callahan's and
Oldham's radical reworkings of each other's songs are also among
Blind Date's highlights. With the help of
Six Organs of Admittance,
Callahan reimagines "Arise Therefore" into something resembling his own "Justice Aversion," and
Dead Rider and
Oldham revamp "Our Anniversary" into a towering psych-rock epic. This sprawling collection is packed with songs, and a lot of love as well. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the moving rendition of
Silver Jews' "The Wild Kindness," which features
Berman's widow,
Cassie, among its choir of voices. Moments like this make
Blind Date Party a satisfying tribute to
Drag City's legacy of friends old and new playing music together. ~ Heather Phares
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