Bill Callahan back! The singular indie figure will release his new album My Days Of 58 early next year. Callahan released YTI⅃AƎЯ, his last solo album, in 2022. Last year, he had a couple of songs with Noah Cyrus, which was interesting. Callahan recorded My Days Of 58 with the same group of musicians that backed him up on his YTI⅃AƎЯ tour: guitarist Matt Kinsey, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi, and drummer Jim White. It’s also got fiddle from Richard Bowden, piano from Pat Thrasher, bass from Chris Vreeland, trombone from Mike St. Clair, and pedal steel from Bill McCullough.
In the My Days Of 58 Bandcamp description, Callahan says, “Improv/unpredictability/the unknown is the thing that keeps me motivated to keep making music. It’s all about listening to yourself and others. A lot of the best parts of a recording are the mistakes — making them into strengths, using them as springboards into something human.” Callahan recorded the basic tracks for most of the songs with just himself and Jim White, recording the other players separately. He calls it a “living room record,” and then he elaborates: “I’m not talking about fidelity at all here. Living room attitude. Living room vibe. Not too loud, not otherworldly. I asked for the horns to be relaxed like someone on the couch playing, not a blast from heaven or hell.”
The album title sure implies that My Days Of 58 will be a meditation on aging. (I looked it up, and Callahan actually turned 59 in June. We’re all getting older!) Lead single “The Man I’m Supposed To Be” certainly fits that description. The song rocks a little more straightforwardly than many Callahan tracks, but you’d never mistake this for anyone else. He sings about accepting the inevitable and trying to seize life while he still has it: “Now my biggest fear is not the dying/ My biggest fear is that I’ll stop trying/ To be the man I am supposed to be.” It’s a love song, honestly. Check out the video for “The Man I’m Supposed To Be” and the My Days Of 58 tracklist below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Why Do Men Sing”
02 “The Man I’m Suppoised To Be”
03 “Pathol O.G.”
04 “Stepping Out For Air”
05 “Lonely City”
06 “Empathy”
07 “West Texas”
08 “Computer”
09 “Lake Winnebago”
10 “Highway Born”
11 “And Dream Land”
12 “The World is Still”
My Days Of 58 is out 2/27 on Drag City.
