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www.churchonthursday.com
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Greatest Palace Music
Palace
Records/Drag City
2004
A musician has got to have balls the size of the
national defecit to do a "covers album" 
consisting
expressly of another artist's best known material. Merle Haggard took on Bob
Wills with A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World,
and Tony Bennett did it with Perfectly Frank, an homage to Sinatra,
but no one (to my knowledge) has had the courage or the audacity, to record
an album that pays tribute to their own material. Leave it to Will
Oldham (aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Kentucky's greatest musical
ambassador since Loretta Lynn, to do just that--revising songs from his Palace
Music days.
Oldham fans are likely to be divided about this effort, which employs his most elaborate production to date; utilizing top-rated Nashville session players, which contributes to a studio sheen usually shirked by Oldham in favor of a low-fi approach. Fortunately, though, the recording still retains as much of the organic feel as previous Palace and Bonne "Prince" Billy recordings.
His updated versions of Palace classics such as "New Partner", "More Brother Rides" and "Viva Ultra" may be difficult to get used to at first for the already initiated, but at times they surpass the original versions--particularly on the duet "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow", featuring a spectacular vocal performance by Marty Slayton. Another positive attribute of this collection of re-recordings is that they present a less-gloomy side of Oldham, providing in many cases more upbeat arrangements than the originals. Greatest Palace Music also marks the most upfront vocal mix Oldham has done to date. For the first time I haven't had to strain my ears to hear the nuances of Oldham's voice and lyrics.
This is the closest Oldham has come yet to recording a straightforward country record, and it's done in earnest. But don't expect the Toby Keith/Alan Jackson contingent to latch on to Oldham any more than they would to John Kerry. Still, Greatest Palace Music should attract new listeners (which might prompt Oldham to take on another alias). Whether one interprets Oldham covering his own songs as ambitious or arrogant, for those looking for America's best songwriter he might be the best place to begin searching.
--Felix Thursday