Superwolves: Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney
Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
Pushkin Industries
4.5 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2021
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2005 singer Bonnie "Prince" Billy a.k.a. Will Oldham and guitarist Matt Sweeney released the Superwolf album, which has developed a cult following that includes Rick Rubin who absolutely fell in love with the project. Now, 16 years later, they’re back with the follow-up, Superwolves.
The new album was five years in the making—a leisurely pace that allowed Oldham and Sweeney to be incredibly intentional with their creative choices. On today’s episode, Rick Rubin talks to Oldham and Sweeney about their work together, which Rick considers some of his favorite contemporary music and the reason he’s since used Sweeney on so many of the sessions he’s produced including the Dixie Chicks, Cat Stevens, and Adele. Will Oldham talks about his philosophy on connecting with his audience, and how if this pandemic were to take us all, Superwolves would be a great album to go out on.
Subscribe to Broken Record’s YouTube channel to hear all of our interviews: https://www.youtube.com/brokenrecordpodcast and follow us on Twitter @BrokenRecord
You can also check out past episodes here: https://brokenrecordpodcast.com
Check out a playlist of our favorite Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney songs HERE. Also, here is a playlist of some of Oldham's favorite songs and here is a playlist of some of Sweeney's. You can purchase their new record here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Pushkin |
| 0:13.0 | In 2005, single-wheel-oldum and guitarist Matt Sweeney released the Super Wolf album, |
| 0:19.0 | which has developed a cult following that includes Rick Rubin, |
| 0:22.0 | who absolutely fell in love with the project. |
| 0:25.0 | Now 16 years later, they're back with the follow-up Super Wolves. |
| 0:30.0 | Other folks will make mistakes and leave you with a mess. |
| 0:36.0 | Other folks have ways of walking past that you know best. |
| 0:43.0 | Their loss to begin with. |
| 0:45.0 | This new album was five years in the making. |
| 0:48.0 | A leisurely pace that allowed oldum and Sweeney to be incredibly intentional |
| 0:53.0 | with their creative choices. |
| 0:55.0 | Oldum, who's recorded it under a number of different monocles in the past, |
| 0:58.0 | including Bonnie Prince Billy, wrote all the lyrics before sending them over to Sweeney |
| 1:03.0 | to write his guitar parts. |
| 1:05.0 | The duo also added a new flavor, tapping the West African musician, |
| 1:09.0 | M.D. Mocktar, to play guitar on a few tracks. |
| 1:12.0 | On today's episode, Rick Rubin talks to Oldum and Sweeney about their work together, |
| 1:17.0 | which Rick considers some of his favorite contemporary music, |
| 1:21.0 | and it's also why he's used Sweeney on a lot of the sessions he's produced, |
| 1:25.0 | including the Dixie Chicks, Cat Stevens, and Adele. |
| 1:28.0 | Oldum talks about his philosophy on connecting with his audience, |
| 1:32.0 | and how if this pandemic were to take us all, Super Wolves would be a great album to go out on. |
... |
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