Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest by Bill Callahan.

On Tuesday when I was in Warminster, I thought I would treat myself to a couple of new cd’s. I got the latest album by Steve Earle which I will tell you about in a couple of days’ time because I haven’t played it yet. The album I want to tell you about today is Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest by Bill Callahan.

I only discovered Bill Callahan’s music a few months ago. A friend sent me some compilation cd’s and I liked the sound of Bill Callahan’s voice, also the sparse arrangements and the deadpan delivery of the words. The lyrics seemed very clever but also mysterious. I looked him up on Wikipedia and discovered that although he is American, he spent several years of his childhood living in Knaresborough in Yorkshire. I found that quite interesting although I don’t know if it has influenced his work in any way. This is the first Bill Callahan album I have owned, although he has made nineteen previous albums in a career of thirty years. I can’t compare this work to his earlier catalogue because I only have this album to judge him by. I must say though that after two listens I like it very much indeed.

The themes of the songs seem to concern life and death and domestic contentment and the responsibilities of parenthood. The lyrics are often quite vague, symbolist and dream-like. With all great art you can interpret the meanings of the songs anyway you like. The artist shouldn’t have to explain the meaning. It is a long album of twenty songs and over an hour in length, so I couldn’t possibly think of something to say about every song. I’ll just tell you what thoughts I had as I listened. I like the artwork on the sleeve by the way. 

Shepherd’s Welcome is the opening track and it mentions a dream about a Black Dog On The Beach which is the title of the second track. I don’t know anything about the meanings of dreams, but I wonder if the Black Dog could symbolise depression. I once read that Churchill referred to his bouts of depression as ‘The Black Dog’. There is a whole menagerie of animals mentioned on this album including Sheep, wolves, lions, dogs, birds and camels, some of which occur in several songs. The instrumentation on the second song is very romantic and western sounding. Many of the songs are like dreamscapes. I don’t know who Angela in the third song refers to, but the words are very witty such as Like motel curtains, we never really met. I think the comic book imagery of Ballad Of The Hulk might have been inspired by playing with his son.

This is Bill’s first album in six years which might explain the lyrics of Writing. Perhaps he had a period of writer’s block or maybe didn’t have the time for it with being busy with his new family. Morning Is My Godmother is an expression that occurs in a couple of songs. There are some nice little touches to this song with bells and backing vocals. 747 is one of the highlights in my opinion with birth and death suggested in the second verse. Watch Me Get Married is a very witty song with lions and sheep appearing again which seems quite biblical to me. I don’t know what to say about Young Icarus but Released seems to me to be the most political and angry of all the songs. What Comes After Certainty mentions an ‘imitation Eames’ and I didn’t know what that is. I looked it up and discovered that it is a chair. Confederate Jasmine is the name of a plant. The shepherd and the wolf appear again and there is quite a vivid description of something that some people might think is too much information. Call Me Anything has a line I like which is I sing for good listeners and tired dancers. Son Of The Sea seems to me to be a song about the responsibilities of being a parent. Camels is another very enigmatic song with a dream like quality and possibly might be a comment about watching the war in Syria from the comfort of television but I’m only guessing.

I think Bill’s mother died in recent years and that event might have been the inspiration for the trio of songs Circles, When We Let Go and Lonesome Valley. The last song is traditional and was made famous by the Carter Family in 1936. I prefer the Bill Callahan version. If you scrolI down I have shared a video from Youtube of this song. I like the line Sweet as hospital grapes. He has a great way with words. Tugboats And Tumbleweed is a wonderful song and I interpret it as giving advice to his son. You’re my tugboat is a very affectionate description. The Beast is the final song which I won’t even pretend to try and interpret, but I still like it though. I have enjoyed listening to this CD over the last couple of days. I felt better for listening to it. Great music doesn't enhance your mood, it actually creates it. I think Bill Callahan is a great singer-songwriter and I will certainly listen to more of his music in the future.