Bill Callahan, the artist formerly known as Smog, had his specific “I don’t know what” working at the Independent. His voice was as deep as a well, and sometimes he got down on his knees, closed his eyes, and strummed his guitar like he was sending a prayer out to the audience. I guess depth is the operative word to describe Callahan and his performance. He was in deep form.
Callahan was still wearing the gray business/casual suit he had on during his afternoon show at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and his standup drummer, Thor Harris, was still rocking a Viking’s mullet. The two, along with a fiddle and bass player, ambled through an hour and forty minute set that included a crowd-silencing version of “Rock Bottom Riser.” The song came midway through the set, as the band was settling into a meditative groove. The drunk guy who kept yelling at Callahan to “Break some horses!” shut up, and a last bottle clanked at the bar in the back. Grooves were forged into Callahan’s face as he sang “I am uh rah ock bah dum ri zer...”
Despite the fathoms of soul that came up through Callahan’s throat during songs like “River Guard” and “Let Me See the Colts,” he finished with "Prince Alone In the Studio,” a song that imagines Prince working so intensely on a song that his groupies go home at 2am, neglected and with wet panties. This is funny on paper, but the song’s stone-serious minor-key offsets all the goofy Prince imagery. I was left feeling strangely sad for those poor girls who “thought they were going to have sex with him” and “wore their special underwear.” With Callahan, even Prince is profound.
