Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) 'Lecture One: Making Songs'

Will Oldham is not only a writer of great songs; he is a student of them. "When I heard the other kids around the campfire singing 'Casey Jones,' 'Cortez the Killer,' and 'Jack & Diane,' putting all of their hearts into the effort, I knew there was value in a well-built song," he explains. "Writing songs is an attempt to build a bridge from my consciousness to the consciousness of another." He has made his career by penning and covering tunes that do exactly that. At the downtown Durham studio Sound Pure, Oldham analyzes what makes a song resonate on those levels and offers insight into how he gets there, sampling from his career as he goes.