Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
2019 studio album by Bill Callahan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest is a studio album by American musician Bill Callahan, released on June 14, 2019, by Drag City. It is the sixth studio album released under his own name, and seventeenth overall when including LPs released as Smog.
| Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 14, 2019 | |||
| Recorded | August 2018–January 2019[1] | |||
| Studio | Wonder Chamber, Austin, Texas | |||
| Length | 63:35 | |||
| Label | Drag City | |||
| Bill Callahan chronology | ||||
| ||||
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest is a double album[2] with twenty tracks and over sixty-three minutes in length, making it Callahan's longest album to date.[3] The album received favorable reviews, with Pitchfork contributing editor Jayson Greene referring to it as a "highlight of his career".[4]
Release and promotion
The album was announced on May 2, 2019.[5] The first three sides of the album were released digitally weeks apart before the album's release. The first side was released on May 23, 2019,[6] the second side on May 30, 2019,[7] and the third on June 6, 2019.[8]
The album was premiered for early streaming through NPR's First Listen series starting on June 6, 2019.[9]
Critical reception
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest received positive reviews from critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 88, based on 22 reviews.[11]
Laura Snapes of The Guardian praised the album as a "brilliantly sly celebration of family and the infinite".[14] In his review for Pitchfork, Jayson Greene called the album "his warmest, his most generous, possibly his most profound. It is his longest, for sure, lounging comfortably across four sides of vinyl, none of it wasted. It is a high note, fond and deep and sustained."[4]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Bill Callahan, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Shepherd's Welcome" | 2:22 | |
| 2. | "Black Dog on the Beach" | 2:30 | |
| 3. | "Angela" | 2:47 | |
| 4. | "The Ballad of the Hulk" | 4:04 | |
| 5. | "Writing" | 3:06 | |
| 6. | "Morning Is My Godmother" | 2:10 | |
| 7. | "747" | 3:26 | |
| 8. | "Watch Me Get Married" | 3:10 | |
| 9. | "Young Icarus" | 2:48 | |
| 10. | "Released" | 2:22 | |
| 11. | "What Comes After Certainty" | 3:42 | |
| 12. | "Confederate Jasmine" | 3:40 | |
| 13. | "Call Me Anything" | 2:26 | |
| 14. | "Son of the Sea" | 4:13 | |
| 15. | "Camels" | 2:59 | |
| 16. | "Circles" | 2:28 | |
| 17. | "When We Let Go" | 2:17 | |
| 18. | "Lonesome Valley" | Traditional | 4:16 |
| 19. | "Tugboats and Tumbleweeds" | 4:12 | |
| 20. | "The Beast" | 4:37 | |
| Total length: | 63:35 | ||
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.[1]
|
Musicians
|
Technical
Packaging
|
Charts
| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] | 21 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[22] | 99 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[23] | 58 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[24] | 168 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] | 56 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA)[26] | 81 |
| Scottish Albums (Official Charts)[27] | 17 |
| Spanish Albums (Promusicae)[28] | 51 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29] | 56 |
| UK Albums (Official Charts)[30] | 37 |
| UK Independent Albums (Official Charts)[31] | 3 |
| US Americana/Folk Albums (Billboard)[32] | 11 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[33] | 5 |