It probably shouldn't count against Will Oldham that his two best records to date contain many of the same songs. Back in 1997, when his tangled Palace discography made pursuing his work difficult and often unrewarding, Oldham collected scattered singles and alternate takes on Lost Blues & Other Songs, and made a case for his raw, haunted folk-rock. Now, having settled into his new persona as Bonnie "Prince" Billy for three consecutive albums (the last two of which have been superb), Oldham revisits and reinvents his most popular Palace material on Bonnie "Prince" Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music.
The difference is striking. After his experience recording last year's Master And Everyone in Nashville—where Oldham was amazed at how easy it was to order up a top-flight fiddle player in the middle of the night—the singer-songwriter decided to give his back catalog a countrypolitan polish. The MVP of Greatest Palace Music is Hargus "Pig" Robbins, an industry veteran who's played on hit records for everyone from George Jones to Travis Tritt. Oldham's revamped "Gulf Shores" reveals the influence of Robbins, who plunks gently between the lines of the Palace classic, distantly answering Oldham's lyrics about defiantly and somewhat forlornly wasting away on the beach.
The other 14 Greatest Palace Music tracks incorporate approaches ranging from typically dirgey to atypically swinging, like the teary honky-tonk version of "Ohio River Boat Song" and the jaunty run through "I Send My Love To You," both of which replace the originals' rough, homemade quality with lushness. Longtime fans may be appalled, but the best of Oldham's songs—like the mournful, gospel-tinged "Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow"—have always felt like country-rock standards in the making, lacking only a nimble steel-guitar line or a soulful backup vocal to push them up.