Bonnie “Prince” Billy – “The Curse” (The Mekons Cover) Video

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – “The Curse” (The Mekons Cover) Video

The enigmatic roots-music master Will Oldham, who mostly records as Bonnie “Prince” Billy, has been busy lately. Already this year, he’s released Best Troubadour, a Merle Haggard tribute album, and a collaborative EP with the acoustic-guitar virtuoso Nathan Salsburg. And today, he’s got a new video for his cover “The Curse,” a 1991 classic from the Mekons. (A different version of the cover actually comes from Chivalrous Amekons, a Mekons tribute band that Oldham leads. Angel Olsen is a member, too, and they released the Mekons cover album Fantastic Voyage last year.)

For the song and video, Oldham teamed up with kids from the Roots Of Music, a local after-school program founded by the Rebirth Brass Band’s Derrick Tabb. (Oldham donated the Fantastic Voyage proceeds to the Roots Of Music.) In director Ben Berman’s video, Oldham jumps up out of a coffin to dance in his own New Orleans jazz funeral. It is a supremely silly affair. Check it out below, via NPR.

Fantastic Voyage is out now on Drag City.

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