NEW ALBUMS
BILL CALLAHAN
Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest DRAG CITY
ALBUM OF THE MONTH 9/10
Pasture prime: smog lifts over the Bob Dylan of dysfunction. By Jim Wirth
BILL CALLAHAN’S parents were national security operatives – language analysts; secrecy is in his blood. While he has produced a huge catalogue of supremely affecting music in the past 30 years, Maryland’s master of minimalism could never be accused of oversharing. Over 17 albums – the first 11 as Smog, the latter six under his own name – the 52-year-old has developed an uncanny knack of speaking volumes by giving very little away, his songs an inscrutable mix of allegory, desert-dry humour and plausible personal deniability. The mildly prurient fascination in the indie community with his
