Bill Callahan, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Enlist Ty Segall for Johnnie Frierson Cover
Bill Callahan and Bonnie “Prince” Billy have revealed their latest cover, performing a rendition of Johnnie Frierson’s “Miracles” with Ty Segall.
Directed by Sai Selvarajan, the video features vintage, sepia-toned photos of automobiles and American life, as Callahan takes the lead on vocals. “If you believe and if you try/You can do anything,” he sings. “You can do miracles/Things than seem impossible.”
“Ty Segall turns the party up to 11 as only he can, with a synth and rhythm box rebuild of Johnnie Frierson’s late-period Memphis outsider-gospel,” Drag City Records wrote on their Instagram. “Creeping with a low, trippy gait, the relentless roll of the groove and the spare sting of Ty’s guitar draws devotional commitments from Bill and Bonny, augmented by exceptional reed-blowing from Rob Frye. Their massed spirit sends the sunshine of Johnnie’s sentiment pouring through the darkness.”
“Miracles” is the latest cover the duo released in quarantine, following Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues” with Bill MacKay, Billie Eilish’s “Wish You Were Gay” with the High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan, Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “Blackness of the Night” with Azita, and more.
Last fall, Segall released a new Fuzz record, III, the trio’s first new album in five years. He released his 11th album, First Taste, in 2019.