Bill Callahan’s new double album Shepard in a Sheepskin Vest is out now on Drag City. Callahan released the first three of the album’s four sides incrementally over the past few weeks, for a total of 16 songs streaming ahead of the official release date. Shepard in a Sheepskin Vest marks the Austin singer-songwriter’s fifth album under his own name, following 2013’s Dream River. He also recorded 11 albums as Smog before abandoning the moniker after 2005’s A River Ain’t Too Much to Love.
Much of Shepard in a Sheepskin Vest wrestles with the domestic, tracing Callahan’s relationship to his wife and son in fraught, funny terms. “Music was all I had to do to feel like I was being a worthwhile human,” said Callahan in a recent interview with Pitchfork. “Then some things came along and made music not number one anymore… or, at least, put it in a three-way-tie for number one.”
Callahan is touring throughout the year in support of the new album; he’ll be in the U.S. until September, when he’ll head to Vicar Street in Dublin to kick off a string of European dates. Stream the new album below, and revisit our 2013 feature on Bill Callahan here.
