The new live album from Bonnie Prince Billy

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – the persona/stage-name of musician Will Oldham - released a new live album titled Ghosts of American Psychonauts today,  September 18th. The 8-song set was recorded at The Pico Union Project in Los Angeles over Valentine’s Day weekend 2025, just a few weeks after the release of The Purple Bird – and features 3 songs from that album, re-arranged with new instrumentation – among highlights from the BPB catalog.  

Oldham says: Everyone on the stage (on this record) knows how to tell stories, musically, and relies on this storytelling to create liveable real spaces.  In February of 2025, in Los Angeles, we had stories to share with each other and we did it with a thorough and cathartic push-and-pull with each other, and with the audience.   

The sound of the record doesn't make any sense, nor does its duration, by standard standards, and this allows the record to do what we want music to do which is to make its own sense.   

Once you've been on the road for years it's undeniable that the road is also home, because that's where much of our friends and family are. The stage and the audience were full of friends and family, and music is where we meet.