Hi everyone, Very Old Guy here, the Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Bill Callahan album, My Days of 58.

Here, we have a brand new record from singer-songwriter extraordinaire Mr. Bill Callahan, a man who has released many an album over the years, once under the name Smog where he dabbled in low and mixed fidelity iterations of slowcore, indie folk, and alt-country mostly. And he dropped multiple classic albums under that name before moving on to releasing albums under just simply Bill Callahan, as he started embracing more Americana vibes, taking a mellower approach to his sound too, and continued to release great records. I highly recommend his 3-album run between Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle and Dream River.

But in my opinion, following records didn't pack quite as much purpose or surprise, whether Bill was giving us more bite-sized songs on this gauntlet of tracks from Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, or playing it straighter on the following Gold Record. Even the 90-minute features-packed covers album Bill did with indie folk legend Bonnie Prince Billy back in 2021 didn't make much of a broader impact.

But I do think Bill's work and creativity has been picking up steam as of late, though. For example, 2022's Reality had a much juicier set of tunes with some psych undertones here and there too. And now I think Bill has really hit upon something with My Days of 58 here, where I'm loving the more jammy, improvisational approach to the production and song structures. On the 12 tracks here, Bill just seems to have such immense chemistry with everyone in his band, which keeps all of these songs from turning stagnant in any way. Even tracks that might not necessarily grip me right out of the gate, like "West Texas" for example, come to really layered, climactic finishes that make the journey worth it if you're willing to give your patience.

This approach also leads to a lot of great little embellishments and details in these songs, whether it's the beautiful horn harmonies all over "Why Do Men Sing", and many other tracks, too, including "And Dreamland", which gets quite stormy and tense at points. I also enjoy the sudden transitions that we hit on tracks like "Pathol O.G.", which breaks into these sections that feel like a different song entirely, that is inspired by old-time spirituals or folk music. And the move from one portion to the next is just so fluid.

So, again, the song lengths on this record can get pretty meaty, ranging from 6 to 7 minutes. But they're very dynamic and engaging, and maybe more so than records I've enjoyed in the past from Bill, too. And of course, that's due to everything I've cited so far in this review, but it's also because of the vocals and lyrics on this thing, too. Because of course, Bill's trademark baritone is still very much intact on this album, and is just as captivating as ever. But even if the song structures on this record happen to meander a little bit, the topics certainly don't. Bill is locked in and focused when it comes to the points he's trying to make on these tracks, the emotional inspiration he's trying to pull from.

But on top of that, on this record, Bill is surprisingly funny. Like, downright hilarious at points. And I don't know what has led to this being a key characteristic of My Days of 58, but this album is just loaded with so much playful tongue-in-cheek meta-commentary, which you'd think would make for a more kind of hardcore fan-type release, but honestly it just makes for a lot of universally appealing yuks, and sharp commentaries that make for some of Bill's best songwriting in years.

Whether he's describing elevated feelings lifted by doses of Zoloft and Lexapro against sloshed horn sections on "Stepping Out for Air", or again, to go back to the track "Pathol O.G.", where Bill gets into the pathology of him personally, but also his artistry, music as a communication medium, and refers to himself as the Pathol O.G. in the process, hence the title. There's also the intro track "Why Do Men Sing?" which is a killer start to the album, a loose country anthem that dives further into the act of dissecting singing and songwriting itself.

So yes, Bill's frankness on this record leads to a lot of laughs, but also many dark moments too, like on "The Man I'm Supposed to Be", where he's really laying out the standards he's setting for himself at this stage of his life, with lyrics like, "And now my biggest fear is not the dying / My biggest fear is that I'll stop trying / To be the man I'm supposed to be / We take life seriously, laugh in the face of death", which toward the end of the track comes complete with a "hee hee" from Bill.

There's also the track "Empathy", which is a real highlight for me on this thing, and is essentially inspired by Bill's dad, just pretty peacing out when he was around the age of 30, while also reflecting on his own relationship with his kids, thinking about how it's killed him to be away from them during certain moments when he's been touring, performing, and kind of coming to a point of forgiveness and reconciliation when it comes to his own father's distance.

"Computer" is another track on the record I like quite a bit, even if in spirit it is like a little bit of an Old Man Yells at Cloud type moment. I can't really deny his assessment of the information age taking a turn for the worst over the past few years. It's not incorrect. And he does make a point with bars like, "Auto-tune, I don't want to hear it / That's just prepping us to be satisfied / Being sung to by something without a spirit / Until the human voice sounds so flawed and raw / That we just quit it." Which, I mean, given all the AI replacement we've been seeing left and right of actual artists, and those vocals are very much based on and trained off of vocal performances that are fed through auto-tune, I mean, it's not entirely wrong in terms of what it's kind of inadvertently ushering in.

Now, I will say, going into the second half of this record, there is a pretty noticeable tone shift, with more songs that take on a much more relaxing, feel-good energy, like "Lake Winnebago", which is a track that's kind of about, you know, wanting to die in a scenic place. And if funds are low to the point where it can't be done somewhere ritzy or impressive, you know, why not Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin? As Bill waxes poetic about all the things about this place that he finds beautiful, with some sing-along type background vocals. It's got real John Prine energy at points, I would say.

There's also "Highway Born", which is equally as blissful, but I will say the, uh, greater point and structure of this track is a lot more casual, I'll say that. I mean, in a way, the song itself is a reflection on this idea of just traveling, going down the road just to pass the time.

"The World is Still", though, the closing track on this record, is a great send-off though, as it literally feels like a guided meditation led by Bill, whose voice actually works in this context incredibly well. But yeah, this track is packed with all of these ambient synth layers and really a bulk of the sort of instrumentation we've been hearing so far, but played out in more of a boundariless presentation. And the whole track only gets more spacious and abstract as it progresses, and it's the better for it, as it's genuinely the most transcendental and enchanting moment on the album.

But yeah, coming away from this, I was taken aback. I was surprised at just how great and fantastic this album was. There were maybe a few songs here and there that underwhelmed me a bit, and I don't think the production will necessarily be for everybody, especially those who aren't maybe acclimated to Bill's slightly more lo-fi approach than many songwriters, because some of the EQs and recordings of certain pieces of instrumentation do sound like, you know, a little rickety or, uh, thrown together.

Still, you can hear quite everything throughout the record pretty clearly, and Bill's voice still sounds amazing. And even if this record doesn't have the cleanest sound in the world, the band and performance chemistry is still definitely there on these tracks. The way the drums and guitars lock in, the way the fiddles and horns pop in here and there to add some extra color, the way the lead and background vocals intertwine — yeah, it's a really well-put-together album.

Well-written, well-performed, stellar from front to back, and in my opinion, one of Bill's best efforts in years. Years and years, really. Which is why I'm feeling about a light 9 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Bill Callahan. Forever.