Ask Forgiveness

Performer: Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Distributor: Revolver USA Distribution

Notes: After a devastating string of full-lengths in the early 2000s culminating in the one-two punch of 2005's collaboration with Matt Sweeney, SUPERWOLF, and 2006's wrenching THE LETTING GO, Will Oldham seemed to be in a state of letting go himself. He re-energized his acting career with OLD JOY and a goofy appearance in a Kanye West video; wrote "His Hands," the title track to soul singer Candi Staton's comeback record; and backed up Tortoise on an odd album that featured-- among other throwaways--a cover of Springsteen's "Thunder Road." ASK FORGIVENESS, a mini-album of his own covers, finds Oldham back in fine form even as it chips away at his hard-earned gravitas. Recorded on a lark in Philadelphia with members of the homegrown folkie outfit Espers, ASK FORGIVENESS finds Oldham lending his trademark warble to a diverse array of numbers. While Phil Ochs, Bjork, Thom Yorke, and Danzig are all given the Palace brother's spacious and shambolic indie-folk makeover here, the collection's stand-out is R. Kelly's "World's Greatest," within which Oldham discovers an earnest heart. While Cat Power--the other titan of millennial whisper-rock--beat Oldham to this concept with her own THE COVERS RECORD, ASK FORGIVENESS is every bit that record's equal and a welcome addition to Oldham's epic catalog.

The Wire (p.53) - "Within its contemplative parameters, ASK FORGIVENESS is certainly a success....[With] Bonnie 'Prince' Billy returning once again to a meditative, troubadour persona..." Q (Magazine) (p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "With Oldham reinventing everything in his own backwoods way, the results are not so far in spirit from Johnny Cash's American Recordings." Harp (magazine) - "[T]here's remarkable fluidity across this gorgeous set, which suggests that Oldham's versions of anyone else's songs are first and foremost his own."

One of several monikers employed by country maverick Will Oldham, Bonnie "Prince" Billy became the artist's favored voice during the late 1990s and into the 2000s. The debut full-length I SEE A DARKNESS was hailed as one of Oldham's finest releases, augmenting the Appalachian gothic of his earlier work with additional instrumentation. In the always enigmatic artist threw fans a delightful curveball with 2004's SINGS GREATEST PALACE MUSIC, on which the singer-songwriter revisited his own back catalogue with a group of Nashville session musicians. As the 2000s rolled on, the Bonnie sobriquet would come to represent Oldham at perhaps his most prolific and challenging; he would collaborate with post-rock act Tortoise, cover a broad range of artists from Danzig to Bjork, and release several stunning original full-lengths.

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