Sir Richard Bishop :: Hillbilly Ragas
Shortly after the huge announcement of Bishop’s purely improvised new album “Hillybilly Ragas” was announced back in early July, we reached out to the legend sometime back in August about an idiotic idea we had. As much as we wanted his biblical blessing, we were also seeking some subconscious reassurance that what we had to pitch was impossible and shouldn’t be pursued for the sake of the harmonious history and liberating legacy of his longtime band, the Sun City Girls. Remaining a spiritual secret from the undeserving world for over four decades, it was time to live by one of the band’s merciless mantras, “smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.” We both agreed that if it works out, then there’s no other option but to go for it. Launching the Sun City Girls-based podcast, “The Burning Nerve Ending Magic Podcast — A Sun City Girls Story,” towards the end of the summer has been a fever dream to say the least, and if you were to ask why, or how? At this point, almost ten episodes in, it’s much easier to understand, as we’ve realized it’s less about needing such a podcast altogether and more about what you put into it that may reveal some truth in this world. They’ll eventually pick up what you’re putting down as an overall sonic solution to what makes them feel whole, or better about the world that they intensely inhabit. So, for the love of God, Ra, Larry King, Captain America, Bob Dylan, Michael Jordan, Fred Flintstone, or whoever the hell you get on your hands and knees for a couple of times a week for that wholesome reassurance that whatever you’re doing is worth it in the end, put something good out there! What do you have to lose? Your mind is already shattered into a million priceless pieces and scattered across the sands of time. But whatever you do, don’t let them know your next move.
“I’ve always felt that the majority of what is considered to be American Primitive music, while certainly based on historical American musical traditions, never really had any sounds that I personally thought of as being primitive—it always seemed too orderly, too developed, and too safe. Way too safe. I found that playing with a sort of reckless abandon was the best way to remain outside of the usual musical language found in this genre of music while still being able to establish itself within its framework, through determination and force if nothing else. I had in mind an undiscovered “hillbilly” guitarist who had remained hidden in his own secluded backwoods; one who never heard about any traditional musical styles that he was expected to work within. So what we have here with Hillbilly Ragas are nine improvised pieces for solo acoustic guitar, each one representing a different excursion into the dark woods—the untamed explorations of a musical loner, an outsider, maybe even an undesirable, embodying a peculiar folklore and turning it into sound—creating his own American folk music in the process. He’s still out there, fueled by his supernatural surroundings and a fuck-all attitude!”
Photo: Dirk Knibbe
“Since all 9 songs on the upcoming record Hillbilly Ragas are improvised, in order for me to perform them live (and I shall), I have to reverse engineer each track in order to learn how to play the damn things. It’s a fascinating process,” says Bishop about the album’s cosmic chemistry between song and spell. “Hillybilly Ragas” is an exciting effort that carefully connects to the uninhabited universe, which continues to fascinate the fundamentals of cosmic curiosity across the board. While simultaneously capturing the esoteric essence that is iconic within all of Bishop’s works, this album, in particular, puts an extra foot forward as the rubber soles begin to melt and stick against the ancient brick pathway that leads to the sophisticated shadows of the past, present, and future in some sadistic seance held somewhere deep in the south. Even though the snake-handling churches may not practice as they once did in the good old days, Bishop’s worldly wrangling with the guitar is nothing short of a religious experience as he takes listeners through a jungle of juxtaposition and raging ritualism under a macabre moon deep in the sticks. As fun as the album is, it’s also a rambling rapture that quickly fades into the silvery shadows of man’s criminal acts. With tracks like “Pass The Juggernaut,” “Cuttin’ The Shine,” and the album’s epic ender “War Powder,” miraculously murdering the ego in some alchemical attempt at feeding the madness within, Bishop proudly ignites that flame with his cowboy killer and stands by as the sparks fly high in a radioactive glow against the sky. And while a weathered leather guitar case remains dormant by a cliffside, the master takes a seat to play his meditative melody to that old familiar moon that hangs above, and with one strum, breaks the hum of nature, and demands the natural world’s attention for an esoteric encore.
