Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy recently announced a show at The Apollo Theater in Harlem. He hasn’t been around these parts, as far as I know, since 2006 when he did two tiny shows at Joe’s Pub. This track is a recording from his last ‘proper’ NYC show when he was at the Bowery Ballroom in 2005. This was around the time when he was getting ripped left-and-right for his album Sings Greatest Palace Music which was a re-recording, but with Nashville studio hands, of some of his more cherished Palace era songs — that is, a re-envision of his Palace Music songs with the “nashville sheen”. The critical reviews that I read at the time were absolutely viscous. They panned the whole concept and execution with vitriol generally allocated for the lowest of scum. These days, I think the critics have chilled out and probably have come around to actually dig the record. This was touched upon a bit in a feature article in a January 2009 issue of The New Yorker. I, am a big fan of the New Yorker and I would imagine that being featured in its hallowed pages might have the cache of being invited to perform at Carnegie Hall or even might be up there with having Johny Cash do one of your songs, which he has. Anyway, here is Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy doing one of my favorite Elvis songs, Memphis Tennessee.
Download: Bonnie ‘Prince Billy’ – Memphis, Tennessee (Live)
