Permanent Smile

Bill Callahan / Mickey Newbury Split Release!

Bill Callahan is set to tackle a classic Mickey Newbury track on an upcoming split release.

Mickey Newbury never quite got his due. An undoubtedly talented songwriter, his output was the subject of last year’s superb re-issue ‘An American Trilogy’.

An expansive, exhaustive look at his career ‘An American Trilogy’ led to a resurgence of interest in Mickey Newbury. Now Saint Cecilia Knows and Drag City have confirmed plans for a split single, featuring an exclusive cover version from Bill Callahan.

Tackling ‘Heaven Help The Child’ Bill Callahan is able to salute an important influence on his own career. A press quote: “There’s something psychedelic and transcendent about Mickey’s best work and when he gets into the realms of songs like ‘Heaven Help The Child’, where he spans generations and flies over time while still maintaining a singular mind, he’s imparting a truly epic knowledge and vision. The song always reminded me of the movie Once Upon a Time in America.”

Provoked by the Vietnam War, ‘Heaven Help The Child’ is a protest songs of sorts. Deeply personal, an archive quote from Mickey Newbury supplies more information: “The point I was trying to make in that song is that every generation thinks that its problems are unique where its problems really are as old as man. There are no new problems; there are only new faces having them.”