There’s no musician I’ve listened to more over the past two years than Bill Callahan. From his solo work of the past decade to his earlier work as Smog, there are few songwriters who have moved me more.
This post includes two mixes: the first is a mix of my favorite Bill Callahan songs. The second is a mix that Bill Callahan made as a reward for a Kickstarter project to make a documentary about him.
The Best of Bill
01 “Bathysphere” — Wild Love (1995)
02 “I Feel Like the Mother of the World” — A River Ain’t Too Much to Love(2005)
03 “Cold Blooded Old Times” — Knock Knock (1999)
04 “Honeymoon Child” — Woke on a Whaleheart (2007)
05 “Hit the Ground Running” — Knock Knock (1999)
06 “Our Anniversary” — Rough Travel for a Rare Thing (2010)
07 “The Wind and the Dove” — Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle (2009)
08 “Rock Bottom Riser” — A River Ain’t Too Much to Love (2005)
09 “Dress Sexy at My Funeral” — Dongs of Sevotion (2000)
10 “Day” — Woke on a Whaleheart (2007)
11 “I Break Horses” — Kicking a Couple Around EP (1996)
12 “Too Many Birds” — Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle (2009)
13 “Sycamore” — Woke on a Whaleheart (2007)
14 “Let’s Move to the Country” — Knock Knock (1999)
15 “Your New Friend” — Kicking a Couple Around EP (1996)
16 “The Sing” — Dream River (2013)
17 “The Breeze/My Baby Cries” — Loving Takes This Course — a Tribute to the Songs of Kath Bloom (2009)
18 “Riding for the Feeling” — Apocolpyse (2011)
Bill’s Mix for Backers
A Kickstarter project to produce “Apocalypse,” a tour documentary about Bill, offered a handmade mix from Bill. Twenty-one people, myself included, backed for it. This mix he made is below. Two songs especially worth noting: Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross” (a beautiful, waterlogged song you could live in) and Jimmy Webb’s epic “Land’s End/Asleep on the Wind.”
01 Dion, “Your Own Backyard”
02 Sizzla, “Rise to the Occasion”
03 R Kelly, “How Did You Manage”
04 The Osborne Brothers, “Cuckoo Bird”
05 Fleetwood Mac, “Albatross”
06 Snooks Eaglin, “Lipstick Traces”
07 Vybz Cartel, “Smuggler”
08 Carly Simon, “Safe and Sound”
09 Jimmy Webb, “Land’s End/Asleep on the Wind”
10 Marvin Gaye, “God Is Love”
If you enjoyed these songs, please take a moment to pick up some of Bill’s records direct from Drag City. You won’t be disappointed.
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