Episode 188

full
Published on:

23rd Jul 2024

My Best Self Is the Person That's Making Songs with Will Oldham aka Bonnie Prince Billy

Booking This Is Your Afterlife sometimes looks like me hand-writing a list of dream guests off the top of my head. Will Oldham appears on every one of those lists. I've been a fan since he released the first Superwolf album with Matt Sweeney in 2005, and their 2021 follow-up, Superwolves, joins it as one of my favorite albums ever.

Few artists are better at combining mystery, sincerity, wisdom, and mischief. And rather than strive for any sort of definitive Will Oldham interview, I just wanted to do the best This Is Your Afterlife episode I could with him on the day we recorded. I hope you like it.

Content warning: dying parents, genocide, convenience, hell is a Twitter feed, the shock of early Facebook, the scourge of superhero movies, Kentucky Pocket Wolf, examining the function of music, George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, Patrick Shiroishi as internet angel.

If you believe in This Is Your Afterlife and want fun bonus episodes, become a patron for $5 or $15/month at patreon.com/davemaher.

If you want to follow Will on social media, he's @wignifier on Instagram and @signifyingwolf on Twitter.

Listen to Superwolf and Superwolves and all the Bonnie Prince Billy solo albums and the old Palace records and and and...

Follow this show on IG: @thisisyourafterlife, and get more info at thisisyourafterlife.com. Have thoughts on the show? Email thisisyourafterlifepodcast@gmail.com.

Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Instagram and Twitter.

All music by This Is Your Afterlife house band Lake Mary.

Check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I analyze TV and movies with my friend, writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.

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About the Podcast

This Is Your Afterlife
Comedian Dave Maher interviews artists and activists about death, their lives, and the afterlife.
What happens when we die? What if this is the afterlife? Comedian, coma survivor, and former Pitchfork writer Dave Maher ("This American Life") asks artists, entertainers, and activists for definite answers to these unanswerable questions.
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