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2005 Joanna Newsom, Bill Callahan, And Will Oldham

1 by AnthonyS
Does anyone know why Drag City and the associated artists have been so secretive about the affair Will Oldham had with Joanna Newsom in 2005 when she was dating Bill Callahan from 2004 to 2007?

I am working on my site Gold: The Smog Blog and I can't seem to find any articles or reviews that mention the affair. And the media provide all these different dates for her relationships with Bill Callahan and Andy Samberg, and never mention the Will Oldham affair at all. One thing said that Joanna Newsom dated Bill Callahan just for a short period in I think 2005. But then I have compiled different articles about their relationship and put together it was a much longer relationship from 2004 going into at least early 2007. And some sites say she met Andy Samberg in 2006 via Fred Armisen while others say she met Andy Samberg in 2008.

I feel a bit funny writing about it on my blog, when it doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere else for some reason, so I haven't been able to upload my reviews of these records, and am stuck at 2004 on my blog.

All three artists refer to the affair in their records, its really obvious.

From what I can work out, Joanna Newsom had a friend give a CD ROM Demo to Will Oldham and he got her signed to Drag City. She put out the Milk Eyed Mender LP and got some attention. In 2004 she toured Europe with Bill Callahan and they started dating, and she played on A River Ain't Too Much To Love which was recorded in 2004 and Bill Callahan sings that he pledged his love to her on that, like he wanted to marry her. They also played the Drag City Christmas Party that year.

Then in 2005 when their relationship wasn't that old, Joanna Newsom had an affair with Will Oldham and she became pregnant and didn't know who the father was and had an abortion. Bill Callahan was furious about the affair and the pregnancy and abortion and he beat up Will Oldham. On this one song later he sings that when he had sex with Joanna Newsom after that he kept imagining her having sex with Will Oldham. However Bill Callahan and Joanna Newsom kept dating until at least early 2007 as there is a newspaper article describing her as his girlfriend going with him to Australia in early 2007. In October 2005 the Australian gossip is that Bill Callahan slept with a teenage musician. So their relationship must have been rocky.

A River Ain't Too Much To Love has Bill Callahan at rock bottom (Rock Bottom Riser) and wanting to turn his life around. I heard he did heroin around 1999 or 2000, so I guess that was something to do with it, he refers to methadone in a 2006 song.

The affair is mentioned in their records, but the music press like Rolling Stone don't seem to mention it in the album reviews. Joanna Newsom and Will Oldham put out records in 2006 which refer to the affair, Ys and The Letting Go. Bill Callahan only releases an EP in 2006 which also refers to the affair. But he later releases two LPs that are mostly about the affair Woke On A Whaleheart and Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle. Joanna Newsom's Have One On Me is also mostly about the affair, and has one song that is very very obviously about Will Oldham, naming his records in the lyrics.

Can anyone fill me in on why this affair is either unobserved by reviewers or a taboo topic in the media that covers indie music? I am not a professional musician or reviewer but it seems very obvious to me.
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