Multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Ty Segall has joined Bill Callahan and Bonnie “Prince” Billy for a brand new cover of Johnnie Frierson’s classic track “Miracles.” The song comes with a corresponding video directed by Sai Selvarajan and marks yet another cover from Callahan and Billy, who belong to the Drag City Record Label along with Segall.
The video begins with a disclaimer that it was made with “Copyright free images from the National Archive” before a shuffling of various photos of different scenes of American life unfold onscreen. We then see Callahan and Billy singing Frierson’s classic track over Segall’s psychedelic guitar, albeit in a much more subdued and funky one. The song is a fun, loose, funk jam and is in the familiar territory of avante garde, pop art that the Drag City artists typically find themselves in.
As mentioned, the new cover track comes after the artists releases a slew of other covers already this year and throughout 2020. Callahan and Billy began 2021 with a cover of Lou Reed’s fan favorite “Rooftop Garden,” which came after covering tracks from a number of notable classic and modern artists last year including Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Hank Williams Jr., Billie Eilish, Steely Day, Robert Wyatt, the late Jerry Jeff Walker and Little Feat.
All three artists belong to the Drag City Records label and the new song marks the first collaboration between the three musicians on the same track. Callahan and Billy received much praise for their cover of the Jerry Jeff Walker’s “I Love You” in December of last year. The song first appeared on Walker’s 1975 acclaimed album Ridin High and the cover was released just a couple of short months after the acclaimed musician passed away. That same month, Billy appeared with Matt Sweeney in the video for their collaborative track “Make Worry for Me.”
Photo Credit: Owen Ela