Bill Callahan
9/14/07
Lakeshore Theater in Chicago
Bill Callahan has earned the respect of many in Chicago throughout his history with Smog and now with his solo career. He played songs from both while being accompanied by bass, drums, and violin. Some of the songs, such as “The Well” have an almost plucky old folk sound that reminds me a bit of early Lee Hazlewood and Johnny Cash. There’s a sense of innocence with the playing and at the same time, you know Bill has been keenly observant of the human condition as Hazlewood and Cash were always adept at.
Even though he is very much a man, Callahan is one of those people you can envision existing in all stages of life simultaneously. For example, he has some subtle clues that give away that he’s of a distinguished age but I can see him as a young boy running around picking apples. And though many of his songs have a more insightful lyricism with a subdued demeanor to the music (for example, he was playing an acoustic guitar), he still acts like a rock star half the time, jamming low with the seemingly small acoustic in tow and raising himself up to the mic as if it were his only stability.
The first part of the set had two of the best songs from Callahan’s newly released solo album Woke on a Whaleheart: “Diamond Dancer” and “Sycamore.” You can easily fall into the lullabye sense of these songs and even when I put on his new album the first time, I strangely had the sense that I knew all of the words to these two. Still, perhaps the best highlight for me was to hear Rock Bottom Riser and Cold Blooded Old Times. When a performance is really good, you can stop thinking about everything else and just listen. You just find away to lose yourself in it and that’s what I could do during these songs especially.
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