Taking the road less travelled

Will Oldham has achieved success on his own terms, performing under the alias Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. He tells Ed Power about his love of Irish trad

WILL Oldham is perplexed. Several reviews of his latest album, Wolfroy Goes To Town, praise the record’s spontaneity and off-the-cuff charm. It’s nice to be liked, but the LP is probably the least spontaneous he has recorded.

“We played all of the songs in concert as a six-piece band,” says the cult Kentucky singer, who goes by the stage name Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. “Which is not something I have ever tried before. If anything I would say it was one of my least spontaneous records. We thought the whole thing through to a significant extent.”