Smog (band)
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Bill Callahan (born June 3, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who has also recorded and performed under the band name Smog. Callahan began working in the
lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
genre, with home-made tape-albums recorded on four-track tape recorders. Later he began releasing albums with the label Drag City, to which he remains signed today. His work, in addition to lo-fi music, has encompassed
apocalyptic folk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrument ...
and
gothic country Gothic country (sometimes referred to as gothic Americana, Southern Gothic, the Denver sound, or even simply just dark country) is a genre of country music rooted in early jazz, gospel, Americana, gothic rock and post-punk. It's lyrics focus on ...
.


Career

Callahan started out as a highly experimental artist, using substandard instruments and recording equipment. His early songs lacked melodic structure and were clumsily played on poorly tuned guitars, resulting in the dissonant sounds on his self-released cassettes and debut album '' Sewn to the Sky''. Much of his early output was instrumental, a stark contrast to the lyrical focus of his later work. His use of lo-fi techniques was not primarily an aesthetic preference, but stemmed from his lack of resources to make and record music. Once he signed a contract with Drag City, he started to use recording studios and a greater variety of instruments for his records. From 1993 to 2000, Callahan's recordings grew more and more "professional" sounding, with more instruments, and a higher sound quality. In this period he recorded two albums with the influential producer Jim O'Rourke and
Tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...
's John McEntire, and collaborated with
Neil Hagerty Neil Michael Hagerty (born 1965) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for his work in Royal Trux which he formed with his partner Jennifer Herrema, who he lived with in Washington, Virginia. Hagerty released sev ...
. Callahan also worked closely with his then-girlfriend
Cynthia Dall Cynthia Dall (born Cynthia Meggin Loya) (March 12, 1971 – April 5, 2012), sometimes known as "Cindy Dall", was an American lo-fi musician and photographer. Dall also gained notoriety in the fanzine world of the 1990s for her frequent trans ...
in his early career, and they contributed vocals to each other's albums. After 2000's '' Dongs of Sevotion'', Callahan began moving back to a slightly simpler instrumentation and recording style, while retaining the more consistent songwriting style he had developed over the years. This shift is apparent in albums such as '' Rain on Lens'', ''
Supper Supper was originally a secondary lighter evening meal. The main meal of the day, called dinner, used to be served closer to what is known as lunchtime, around the middle of the day, but crept later over the centuries, mostly over the course of ...
'', and '' A River Ain't Too Much to Love''. Smog's songs are often based on simple, repetitive structures, consisting of a simple
chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
repeated for the duration of the entire song. His singing is characterized by his
baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
voice. Melodically and lyrically he tends to eschew the verse-chorus approach favoured by many contemporary songwriters, preferring instead a more free-form approach relying less on melodic and lyrical repetition. Themes in Callahan's lyrics include relationships, animals, relocation, nature, and more recently, politics. On the subject of voice in his albums, Callahan has said, "It's usually one character per record. So, the character appears in all or most of the songs on one record and then is gone. Though it makes me feel weird to talk about. Because I don't really think in clear terms of characters. My albums as a whole could be seen as one character with many voices." His generally dispassionate delivery of lyrics and dark irony often obfuscate complex emotional and lyrical twists and turns. Critics have generally characterized his music as depressing and intensely introverted, with one critic describing it as "a peep-show view into an insular world of alienation." Cat Power (Chan Marshall) recorded Callahan's song "
Bathysphere The Bathysphere (Greek: , , "deep" and , , "sphere") was a unique spherical deep-sea submersible which was unpowered and lowered into the ocean on a cable, and was used to conduct a series of dives off the coast of Bermuda from 1930 to 1934. The ...
" on her 1996 album ''
What Would the Community Think ''What Would the Community Think'' is the third album by Cat Power, the stage name and eponymous band of American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall. Recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, the album was released in 1996 on Matador Record ...
'' and also covered another Callahan song, "Red Apples", on her '' Covers Record'', released in 2000. In 2007, Callahan released '' Woke on a Whaleheart'', his first solo album released under his own name. '' Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle'' followed in April 2009. Both recordings were released through Drag City, worldwide. In 2009, Callahan contributed cover songs on four separate tribute albums to
Judee Sill Judith Lynne Sill (October 7, 1944 – November 23, 1979) was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums on Asylum and partially completed a third album before dying of a d ...
,
Kath Bloom Katherine Bloom is an American folk songwriter based in Litchfield, Connecticut. Biography The daughter of oboist Robert Bloom, Bloom grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, where she studied the cello as a child and started playing the guitar when ...
,
Chris Knox Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the g ...
, and
Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...
. In 2010, he released his first live album '' Rough Travel for a Rare Thing'', which was recorded in 2007 at The Toff in Melbourne, Australia. '' Apocalypse'', was released in April 2011 to favorable reviews. Critic
Sasha Frere-Jones Alexander Roger Wallace "Sasha" Frere-Jones (né Jones; born 1967) is an American writer, music critic, and musician. He has written for ''Pretty Decorating'', '' ego trip'', ''Hit It And Quit It'', ''Mean'', '' Slant'', ''The New York Post'', '' ...
called it "my favorite of Callahan's albums, not because it has better songs—those are scattered among at least five others – but because it does exactly what he wants it to do: it conveys an album’s coherence." A tour film chronicling Callahan's 2011 ''Apocalypse'' tour was released in 2012. His followup to ''Apocalypse'', '' Dream River'', was released in September 2013. A dub remix of the album entitled ''Have Fun With God'' followed in January 2014. In 2018, Callahan was featured in the '' Live at Third Man Records'' series. This was his second live album, and features songs from Callahan's previous three studio albums. Callahan took a hiatus from making music after the birth of his son in 2015 and for a time he considered quitting music altogether, citing the demands of being a parent. His musical hiatus ended with the release of ''Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest,'' on June 14, 2019. It received favourable reviews, with ''Pitchfork'' contributing editor Jayson Greene referring to it as a "highlight of his career". His more prolific pace has since returned with the release of ''Gold Record'', in September 2020. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Callahan and
Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...
collaborated on a series of cover songs along with several special guests that they released as a series of videos on YouTube. They compiled these songs into the album ''Blind Date Party'' that was released in December 2021. Callahan's latest solo album ''YTI​⅃​A​Ǝ​Я'' followed in October 2022. His song "Drover" features prominently in the final episode of the documentary series ''
Wild Wild Country ''Wild Wild Country'' is a Netflix documentary series about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), his one-time personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, and their community of followers in the Rajneeshpuram community located in W ...
'', the title of which is drawn from the song's chorus. His song "America" also plays during the credits of Episode 1. His cover of
Kath Bloom Katherine Bloom is an American folk songwriter based in Litchfield, Connecticut. Biography The daughter of oboist Robert Bloom, Bloom grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, where she studied the cello as a child and started playing the guitar when ...
's "The Breeze/My Baby Cries" is featured in the fifth episode of the third series of '' Sex Education.''


Personal life

Though he was born in Maryland, Callahan's family spent a total of eight years living in
Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Nidd. It is east of Harrogate. History Knaresborough is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Chenares ...
in England's North Riding of Yorkshire, with a four-year return to Maryland from 1969 to 1973. His parents worked as language analysts for the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
. He currently lives in Austin, TX. Callahan previously dated other high-profile musicians
Cynthia Dall Cynthia Dall (born Cynthia Meggin Loya) (March 12, 1971 – April 5, 2012), sometimes known as "Cindy Dall", was an American lo-fi musician and photographer. Dall also gained notoriety in the fanzine world of the 1990s for her frequent trans ...
, Cat Power, and Joanna Newsom. In 2013, he became engaged to photographer and filmmaker Hanly Banks; they were married the next year. Their son, Bass, was born in March 2015. They also have a daughter that was born in 2019 or 2020.


Books

In July 2010 Drag City published Callahan's ''Letters to Emma Bowlcut'', an
epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...
. A book of photographs of Callahan by Chris Taylor, titled ''The Life and Times of William Callahan'', was released in January 2013. In October 2014, a collection of ink drawings by Callahan and lyrics spanning his first album as Smog, to ''Dream River'' was released, titled ''I Drive a Valence''.


Discography


As Smog

*'' Sewn to the Sky'' (1990) *'' Forgotten Foundation'' (1992) *''
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
'' (1993) *''
Burning Kingdom ''Burning Kingdom'' is the second EP by Bill Callahan (also known as Smog), released on Drag City in 1994 and later re-released in Europe on Domino. " My Shell" is an electric version of the 1991 single of the same name. This EP is the first ...
'' (1994) *'' Wild Love'' (1995) *'' Kicking a Couple Around'' (1996) *'' The Doctor Came at Dawn'' (1996) *''
Red Apple Falls ''Red Apple Falls'' is the sixth album by Smog (the alias of Bill Callahan), released in May 1997 on Drag City and re-released in Europe in 2001 by Domino. Background ''Red Apple Falls'' was recorded by Jim O'Rourke and Callahan, with assist ...
'' (1997) *''
Knock Knock Knock Knock may refer to: * Knock-knock joke, a type of joke Film and television * Knock Knock (1940 film), ''Knock Knock'' (1940 film), an animated short film noted for the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker * ''Knock Knock'' (2007 film), a ...
'' (1999) *'' Dongs of Sevotion'' (2000) *'' Rain on Lens'' (2001) *'' Accumulation: None'' (2002) *''
Supper Supper was originally a secondary lighter evening meal. The main meal of the day, called dinner, used to be served closer to what is known as lunchtime, around the middle of the day, but crept later over the centuries, mostly over the course of ...
'' (2003) *'' A River Ain't Too Much to Love'' (2005)


As Bill Callahan

*'' Woke on a Whaleheart'' (2007) *'' Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle'' (2009) *'' Apocalypse'' (2011) *'' Dream River'' (2013) *'' Have Fun with God'' (2014) *'' Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest'' (2019) *''
Gold Record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
'' (2020) *'' Blind Date Party'' (2021) (with
Bonnie "Prince" Billy Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...
)
* '' YTI⅃AƎЯ'' (2022)


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links


Pitchfork Media's ''Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest'' interview (2019)Music Guide to Bill Callahan at pontone.plBathysphereThe Other Journal interview (2007)PopMatters interview (2005)Bill Callahan at NPR Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callahan, Bill 1966 births Living people American male singer-songwriters American folk singers Drag City (record label) artists Gothic country musicians Indie folk musicians Domino Recording Company artists Singer-songwriters from Maryland