Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy announces live album, shares song ft. Samhain’s London May

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, aka Will Oldham, has announced a new live album that was recorded at The Pico Union Project in Los Angeles over Valentine’s Day weekend 2025, not long after BPB released his great, country-leaning album The Purple Bird. Titled Ghosts of American Psychonauts, the new live album features three songs from that album (“re-arranged with new instrumentation,” according to the announcement), as well as classics like “I See A Darkness” and “Strange Form of Life” and other songs from more recent years.

The first single from the album is a rendition of The Purple Bird‘s “London May,” and it features the actual London May of Samhain on drums. The rendition is a little more haunting than the album version, and very worth hearing. Check it out below.

Ghosts of American Psychonauts was made with Oldham’s touring partners Thomas Deakin (clarinet, down-tuned electric guitar) and Jacob Duncan (flute, saxophone), and, in addition to London May, it features other guests, including Emmett Kelly (bass), Ryder McNair (piano), Dv DeVincentis (sax), Patrick Shiroishi (sax) and The Purple Bird producer Dave Ferguson (who sings on the live album’s rendition of “Downstream”).

Will 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.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy will also be very busy on the road throughout the next few months, with tour dates that span from this week through January 2027. That includes a stop at Brooklyn Folk Festival on November 8. All dates are listed below.

BPB also followed The Purple Bird with another new album earlier this year, We Are Together Again.

Tracklist
1. Sometimes it’s Hard to Breathe
2. Shorty’s Ark
3. London May
4. Downstream
5. Strange Form of Life
6. This is Far From Over
7. Trees of Hell
8. I See a Darkness

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy — 2026/2027 Tour Dates
Friday 7th August – Caprera Openluchttheater, Bloemendaal, NL
Saturday 8th August – Haldern Pop Festival, Rees, DE
Sunday 9th August – Parkhotel Weisser Hirsch, Dresden, DE
Monday 10th August – Kampnagel, Hamburg, DE
Tuesday 11th August – Grosser Sendesaal Des RBB, Haus Des Rundfunks, Berlin, DE
Thursday 13th August – Voxhall, Aarhus, DK
Friday 14th August – Way Out West Festival, Goteberg, SE
Sunday 16th August – DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, DK
Tuesday 8th September – Mandela Hall, Belfast, NI
Wednesday 9th September – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick City, IE
Thursday 10th September – Set Theatre, Kilkenny, IE
Friday 11th September – Dún Laoghaire Folk Festival, Dublin, IE
Saturday 12th September – Dún Laoghaire Folk Festival, Dublin, IE
Wednesday 23rd September – Blue Jay Listening Room, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Thursday 24th September – Blue Jay Listening Room, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Friday 25th September – Lyceum Concert Hall at Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
Saturday 26th September – Pugh Theater, Orlando, FL
Sunday 27th September – Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg, FL
Sunday 18th October – Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids, MI
Monday 19th October – The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI
Sunday 8th November – Brooklyn Folk Festival, Brooklyn, NY
Tuesday 10th November – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, BE
Wednesday 11th November – Koninklijk Theater Carre, Amsterdam, NL
Friday 13th November – O2 Institute, Birmingham, UK
Saturday 14th November – The Fire Station, Sunderland, UK
Sunday 15th November – The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, UK
Monday 16th November – Albert Hall, Manchester, UK
Tuesday 17th November – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London, UK
Monday 30th November – Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Tuesday 1st December – La Rosa, Tuscon, AZ
Wednesday 2nd December – San Miguel Chapel, Santa Fe, NM
Thursday 3rd December – San Miguel Chapel, Santa Fe, NM
Friday 4th December – South Broadway Cultural Center, Albuquerque, NM
Thursday 17th December – The Foundry Theater, Yellow Springs, OH
Tuesday 26th January – The Unknown, Anacortes, WA
Wednesday 27th January – Capital Ballroom, Victoria, CA
Thursday 28th January – Hollywood Theater, Vancouver, CA
Friday 29th January – Tractor Tavern, Seattle, WA – early show
Friday 29th January – Tractor Tavern, Seattle, WA – late show
Saturday 30th January – Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR
Sunday 31st January – Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR