Down the Wormhole 5
An exclusive Deep Voices interview with Bill Callahan, Karl Ove Knausgaard loves Wilco, cow shirts, and more
Welcome to the wormhole, a weekly Deep Voices dispatch. Consider these emails an exercise in music lover world building. I’ve spent my life digging into this weird and fruitful universe of music and art and I’ll be ~paying it forward~ here just for paid subscribers. Subscribe for access (a little more than a dollar a week. Cheap!), and to support the work I do getting out the playlists, interviews, and essay every week.
This week: I reach out to Bill Callahan about an important issue, Karl Ove Knausgaard reveals himself as a Wilco fan, Melvin Gibbs goes to the archive, and more.
Bill Callahan talks dogs. The cover of Bill Callahan’s new EP, The Holy Grail, an official release of a Peel Session he recorded back in 2001, is a photo of Callahan lounging in an easy chair, drink in hand. He turned to the camera, so your focus is on meeting his gaze. At least mine was until I noticed that climbing up his leg was a very cute little dog.
Who was this pup? What was he doing on the record cover? I emailed Callahan to ask. For whatever reason, he responded. The dog was “either Toby or Tyler,” one of his parents’ dogs. Here’s what he had to say:
My parents got Border Terrier brothers when their nest was empty — I could never tell them apart (until much later when they all got in a car crash and one of the dogs got a permanent limp — then it was easy to tell them apart). Toby or Tyler looks pretty young here.
There was always a bit of smirking scorn from me about the dogs because my parents treated them like royalty. Their whole day was formed around the dogs and their schedule of walks and treats and grooming and doing their business and more treats. They got treats for every little thing. “Toby yawned! Give him a treat!”
I used the photo as it was one of the few that I could find of myself around the time of the Peel Session. I was originally going to have a more mystical, emblematic cover to bolster the Holy Grail bent, but everything I mocked up felt like a metal album cover. I mostly just thought it was a funny photo and liked how you might not notice the dog running up my legs at first glance. These were true lap dogs. They needed about 12 hours of lap every day.
My friend Jerry David DeCicca said I looked greasy and in need of a shower. So now I feel a bit bad about the cover. Dog looks good tho.Salvador Dairy and Mootisse: The greatest shirts on earth are up for sale.