Bill Callahan

Bill Callahan of (SMOG) records latest solo effort ‘Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle’ with John Congleton at The Track Studio

Callahan who resides on Drag City records is noted for his indie relationships with Chan Marshall of Cat Power and Joanna Newsom, both of whom he cowrites material with. Bill is a devout vegan, and spent most of his studio days being followed around by a photographer (possibly for an upcoming book.) He ended most of his days chain smoking cigarettes and drinking tequila. Brian Beattie the producer who brought in a vintage ADAT machine with string orchestrations spoke very highly of the studio on a Tape Op message board. Bill however was apparently displeased with the city surroundings in Plano (the home of The Track) as expressed candidly in a Stereo Gum interview. Bill went to the Twin Peaks after long sessions which he referred to as “Plano’s version of Hooter’s in a cornucopia of crap.” He needed the relaxation considering all of the technical difficulties the studio session faced mainly due to syncing the analog tape machines up with the ADAT machines. Bill was forced to retrack certain parts in his native Austin. He has worked in the past with such producers as Steve Albini, however on this release despite Congleton’s engineering efforts, the producer credited is none other than “Raven.” Additional accompaniement was provided by Paper Chase bassist Bobby Weaver along with Congleton’s other usual session player suspects. On another note, the owners of Drag City records do all of the original artwork for the album and other images for the label. Bill Callahan is now extensively on tour throughout the world to places such as Israel and Brazil spreading indie folk throughout with a CS Lewis novel in hand.