The last time Bill Callahan played Brighton, it was in the cosy confines of Resident Records back in February. Last night’s venue was the slightly grander 19th-century Theatre Royal where over an enthralling two hours, Callahan’s sonorous voice, that sits somewhere between actor Sam Elliott and the late, great Larry Jon Wilson, filled the beautiful theatre: his sparse, slow-paced songs, each telling a story, were spoken as much as sung.
When the lights went down, James Brown’s Dead on It, Part I played and we listened to his roll call of classical composers and his own band members in near darkness for a couple of minutes until Callahan and his band (Matt Kinsey – Guitar, Dustin Laurenzi – Reeds and synth, Jim White – Drums), or ‘Ludwig von Callahan & His Fancy Boys’ as scrawled on the bass drum head, appeared.
Why Do Men Sing was the perfect opener, reflecting on his very existence as a touring artist but looking every inch the country troubadour in a jacket that looked very Grand Old Opry – finished off with a harmonica neck holder and an acoustic guitar. Acting as his own narrator, he implored, “Now listen to this”, as his incredible voice came to the fore over sax and slide guitar. With Callahan, there’s never a rush to end a song and after a harmonica outro he returned to the chorus as some people prematurely applauded.
He continued with two more songs from the latest album ‘My Days Of 58’. The Man I’m Supposed to Be, saw Callahan picking the strings as Kinsey improvised an unobtrusive solo and Laurenzi’s sax vamped, propped up by Jim White’s gentle open snare and rimsots. He followed this by announcing, “It’s wonderful to be here tonight but what if one of us dies. We’re all healthy but it could be a technical issue if one of the sounds drops out”. This early taste of his dark humour continued with Jim White’s take on Brighton and loneliness in a tongue-in-cheek monologue that took in two-eyed girlfriends and other people’s kids as the band gently played on. The silent Callahan looked so unassuming, but that voice stops you in your tracks, commanding attention and respect every time it comes to the fore.
After band and sound man introductions, a rare short intro to Sycamore saw Laurenzi on clarinet, White playing gentle cymbal taps and Kinsey’s Gibson SG barely audible, leaving Callahan’s harmonica and acoustic front and centre, with each musician adding more as the song grew, with Callahan dropping to the depths of his range. A spoken introduction to Pathol O.G. returns to life on the road, including meeting a girl who invites him to spend the night… looking for a hotel. A riff on Jacob’s Ladder suddenly becomes the melody of 1940s standard Pistol Packin’ Mama and ends with a simple “well, bye”.
The set continued with a brace of Smog songs (Callahan’s previous incarnation), with 1999’s Running the Loping, like all his work, remaining timeless in sound and lyrical content. It was back to the present with Stepping Out for Air, on which the band complemented the music perfectly, almost lost in it, often exchanging knowing looks at each other. The song morphed into a pop/rock rhythm halfway through, with the sax following Callahan’s repeated “Gabriel, come blow your horn “ invitation as the song built and built to a thunderous finish and smiles all round from the band.
After a quick “thank you”, Callahan bizarrely asks, “Who thinks Queen Elizabeth was a lizard person? Is that offensive?” to huge laughs. Coyotes, with Laurenzi playing his synth with a pedal steel sound, had Callahan actually dancing instead of maintaining his usual static pose, slowing to marching on the spot, repeating “Yes, I’m your lover man” as the band wound down. Next, 2022’s Partition was introduced as Dolly Partition, with Kinsey playing the Jolene melody as Callahan’s upper range was tested on the ascending lyric, in a great mashup tribute.
Maintaining the momentum, Natural Information was an uptempo country folk stomper, with a flavour of classic Paul Simon, before he returned to balladland with Empathy, a heartfelt and poignant tale of father/children relationship dynamics spoken from personal self-effacing experience and his love song to West Texas.
Highway Born was a lighter life-on-the-road saga delivered with a spring in its step and a jovial, carefree whistle from Callahan over boom-chick-boom drums, smooth sax and country guitar. The spoken intro to Drover earned a cheer of recognition, with Kinsey putting his SG through its paces with inventive playing to counter Callahan’s acoustic. Laurenzi was given space to play experimental sax lines, with White dropping mini solos and skilfully placed blasts.
After two hours, there were no more songs and the band exited to AC/DC’s Ride On, as the audience reflected on this absolute gem of an evening in the company of one of the world’s great singer/songwriters.
In support tonight was Nathan Bowles, a Virginia-born multi-instrumentalist musician and teacher living in Durham, North Carolina. Anyone expecting an opening set of comfortable country-flavoured songs was in for a shock as Bowles sat at a table and played a few keyboard notes before tweaking sound frequencies that didn’t sit too well with some of the still-chatting audience who were rightly shushed.
A deep drone then became the background for more sonic twists, turns and tinkerings. Slow beats were added as a higher pitched note was added. Soon a banjo appeared sounding distinctly psychedelic, like a cross between a clavichord and a low-tuned sitar, to open up the piece. The drum beat then pounded out a looming sense of impending doom, as Bowles picked out an Eastern bluesy riff (not unlike Dave Pike’s Mathar) that was repeated until the pedals were turned off to reveal a traditional banjo sound with intricate loops allowing the piece to bloom into a transcendent Southern States raga.
After 25 minutes the piece returned to an electronic drone, with the banjo being gently picked at until he took us back to the dissonant frequency and pitch changes he began with. This was an extremely bold set to perform to an audience that, many of whom, were clearly not ready for. Speaking to Bowles after the show, he explained that the unnamed piece was an improvisation based on elements from his Seven Lefts CD, which is available on Bandcamp here.
Photos by Jon Southcoasting.
Bill Callahan, Theatre Royal Brighton, Tuesday 6th October 2026.
