Will Oldham’s body of work is extensive and varied. Way up into twenty something albums now depending on how you count ’em The Purple Bird alights on top of a tall and celebrated stack. In relation to the songs and records that came before it’s a slightly shinier, more polished and collaborative thing. The constant thread in a career of twists and turns is Oldham’s voice both as writer and singer. He sings softly and his playing tends toward the low key but he’s chosen an ever changing cast of musicians to colour and stretch his songs over the years.
This time out his main co-pilot is producer David ‘Ferg’ Ferguson. This is notable for Ferg’s deep Nashville pedigree and because it’s apparently only the second time Oldham has worked with a producer. They first met when Johnny Cash was recording his version of ‘I See a Darkness’ and in recent years Ferg has set up Oldham in a number of Nashville writing sessions with the result that over half the tunes here are co-writes. The songs sound strong and clear, falling naturally into honed forms, the collective experience and process tending to smooth out contrariness and rein in woolgathering.
Still, when time came to record the songs Ferg was clear “I don’t wanna do a country record, just do your shit, Will”. There’s plenty of country in there of course but it’s of an incidental rather then overt nature, gentle pedal steel and occasional fiddle wandering through song forms that feel almost as old as the land. ‘Tonight With The Dogs I’m Sleeping’ is in the grand old tradition of ‘out at the bar howling at the moon and in big trouble with the missus’ songs and is followed by ‘Boise, Idaho’ at the next station, regretfully turning over the heartache of a broken relationship.
If not a country record a Nashville record for sure. The Purple Bird is shinier than Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy records generally are but not in a way that sets your teeth on edge, it’s astounding that so many hands have come to bear on this with such a light touch. It’s a community thing, both in the way it’s been made and often in it’s concerns. The bright and good natured ‘Our Home’, is perhaps the peak of this thread, bookending the album with ‘Turned to Dust (Rollin On)’ which sweeps you along on its hopeful widescreen harmonies with some darker thoughts inside its coat.
Songs of togetherness, songs of love, a polka about the horrors of gun violence, a gospel cover (The Clark Sisters ‘Is My Living In Vain?) and a series of meditations on water (with explanatory parentheses) in ‘The Water’s Fine (or, the Therapeutic Value of Watery Spaces)’, ‘New Water’ and as ecological consideration on ‘Downstream’, a lovely duet with John Anderson. The Purple Bird brings us all this and more, it’s great from top to bottom, front to back. Honestly, while it joins an impressive discography it’s up there with his very best.
