Bill Callahan

Callahan's most recent album, Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, was released on June 14, 2019. It received favourable reviews, with Pitchfork contributing editor Jayson Greene referring to it as a "highlight of his career".

In October 2014, a collection of ink drawings by Callahan and lyrics spanning his first album as (smog) to Dream River was released, titled I Drive a Valence.

Callahan previously dated other high-profile musicians Cynthia Dall, Chan Marshall, Lisa Crystal Carver and Joanna Newsom. In 2013, he became engaged to photographer and filmmaker Hanly Banks; they were married the next year. Their son, Bass, was born in March 2015.

A book of photographs of Callahan by Chris Taylor, titled The Life and Times of William Callahan, was released in January 2013.

In July 2010 Drag City published Callahan's Letters to Emma Bowlcut, an epistolary novel.

In 2007, Callahan released Woke on a Whaleheart, his first solo album released under his own name. Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle followed in April 2009. Both recordings were released through Drag City, worldwide. In 2009, Callahan contributed cover songs on four separate tribute albums to Judee Sill, Kath Bloom, Chris Knox, and Merge Records. In 2010, he released his first live album Rough Travel for a Rare Thing, which was recorded in 2007 at The Toff in Melbourne, Australia. Apocalypse, was released in April 2011 to favorable reviews. Critic Sasha Frere-Jones called it "my favorite of Callahan's albums, not because it has better songs—those are scattered among at least five others – but because it does exactly what he wants it to do: it conveys an album’s coherence." A tour film chronicling Callahan's 2011 Apocalypse tour was released in 2012. His followup to Apocalypse, Dream River, was released in September 2013.. In 2018, Callahan was featured in the Live at Third Man Records series. This was his second live album, featuring songs from Callahan's last three studio albums.

Cat Power (Chan Marshall) recorded Callahan's song "Bathysphere" on her 1996 album What Would the Community Think and also covered another Callahan song, "Red Apples", on her Covers Record, released in 2000.

From 1993 to 2000, Callahan's recordings grew more and more "professional" sounding, with more instruments, and a higher sound quality. In this period he recorded two albums with the influential producer Jim O'Rourke and Tortoise's John McEntire, and collaborated with Neil Hagerty. Callahan also worked closely with his then-girlfriend Cynthia Dall in his early career, and they contributed vocals to each other's albums. After 2000's Dongs of Sevotion, Callahan began moving back to a slightly simpler instrumentation and recording style, while retaining the more consistent songwriting style he had developed over the years. This shift is apparent in albums such as Rain on Lens, Supper, and A River Ain't Too Much to Love.

Though he was born in Maryland, Callahan's family spent a total of eight years living in Knaresborough in England's North Riding of Yorkshire, with a four-year return to Maryland from 1969 to 1973. His parents worked as language analysts for the National Security Agency.

Bill Callahan (born June 3, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who has also recorded and performed under the band name Smog. Callahan began working in the lo-fi genre of underground rock, with home-made tape-albums recorded on four track tape recorders. Later he began releasing albums with the label Drag City, to which he remains signed today.