Bill Callahan has a voice that is not technically perfect but has more soul in it than a million technically perfect products of the plasticine star machine. Here is Rock Bottom Riser, off of the Smog album A River Ain't Too Much To Love.
Bill is notorious as a man of few words. His responses to interview questions are famously brief, along the lines of "Yes." If he's feeling especially agreeable, he might even speak a full sentence. He takes the same minimalist approach to his music, and it works, especially with his voice, which has deepened and become smoother with age, like a fine wine. Notoriously closed-mouthed Bill and the famously ADHD motor-mouth Chan Marshall shacking up in a house together seems about as great a pairing as fire and water. What exactly were they thinking? Needless to say, it didn't work out, though they seem to have broken up on reasonably good terms, with Bill wishing Chan good luck and saying he loved her anyhow and hoped she found the right person ("Left Only With Love") and Chan basically blaming herself and her many, ah, issues ("Metal Heart" and "Good Woman"), not Bill. Interesting how breakups result in such great albums (Knock Knock for Smog and Moon Pix for Cat Power, both of which should be in your collection).
Ah, the human heart. What a strange thing it is.
-- Badtux the Music Penguin
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