Live in Chi-Town - Bill Callahan :: “Resuscitate!” - Drag City
The untethered magic of Callahan and his sublime mediation on story telling and songwriting date back as far as the late 80s with an incredible introduction into the world of music with “Sewn To The Sky”, released on Disaster Records in 1990. It’s without a doubt that the master of existential emotion and coincidental ‘Cohen-ism’ would go on to concur with the often-time debilitating psyche with delicate, poetic justice and reversed engineered responses to the souls longing for peace and the connection to the natural world. His immaculate approach to his craft is ultimately unmatched and deeply inspiring to multiple generations, just like the greats that came before him.
Throughout the 90s, Callahan’s Smog released numerous albums on his sonic home away from home, Drag City, with titles such as the groundbreaking 1999 classic “Knock Knock”, “Supper” as well as the debut of ‘07s “Woke On A Whaleheart”, “Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle” and “Goat Songs” with long time bandmate and friend Will Oldham (The Sundowners), under his own name. A shapeshifter, day tripper and poetic prankster of moody mantras and a visceral moments during nighttime prayers with vigil velocity, Callahan perfectly captures the ancient ritual and spellbinding atmosphere by projecting the holy imagination across multiple landscapes and dozens of ghostly galaxies in a mere matter of moments.
With legends like Dylan, Young and Zandt all releasing stellar live albums throughout their carnivalistic careers, there simply aren’t enough live Smog/Callahan records outside “Rough Travel For A Rare Thing” and his TMR performance in Nashville, which I attended and found myself gracing the cover with a motionless mug back in 2018. His performances of “Jim Cain” and “Drover” crash-landed in Middle TN like that of some UFO carrying the scent of eucalyptus and aggravated aluminum in its atmospheric wake.
But on the contrary, music is so personal and incredibly spiritual that his work is still obtainable and concentrated in the sense that you can take it with you when you leave this earth if you have deep enough pockets, that is. Callahan brings together both new and old friends Matt Kinsey, Nick Mazzarella, Pascal Kerong'A, Nathaniel Ballinger and Natural Information Society’s Joshua Abrams and Lisa Alvarado and Jim White for an outstanding performance in Chicago that absolutely obliterates the superstitious senses of society and its longtime listeners in both longitude and latitude. “Resuscitate” is a cognitive collection of songs from past works that features Smog classics such as “Keep Some Steady Friends Around” from ‘01s “Rain On Lens” and tracks like “Planets”, “First Bird” and “Partition” from Callahan’s nuclear narrative on life during the pandemic with 2022’s “Reality”. It’s both captivating and moving with perfect pockets of experimental exploration that takes us back to the early days of Smog and its reckless, yet provocative nature. A title reflective of the last few years, Callahan captures the extraterrestrial excellence of life and death in his well established, grandiose way and, for that, we can all sleep just a little easier.
