Bonnie "Prince" Billy Was Destined to Play at the Miami Beach Bandshell

"I have long had a very strong pull toward and desire for more Florida shows," says actor and Americana-punk-folk musician Bonnie "Prince" Billy (AKA Will Oldham) from a hotel in Jacksonville where he's kicking off the Florida leg of his tour.

Despite his interest, the Louisville-based singer-songwriter has only ever played in Miami once before, in 2011, during a show at Sweat Records. On Sunday, January 21, he's returning for the inaugural Miami Folkways festival, part of the Miami Beach Arts in the Parks, a series of free concerts by the City of Miami Beach and the Rhythm Foundation at the Miami Beach Bandshell.

He likes the energy Florida audiences bring to shows, recalling a guy who took a Greyhound from North Miami to Orlando to see him play after watching a video of Oldham singing "Horses" under the name Palace. "It spoke to some of the things I like about playing in Florida," he says of the story. "There's a bit of a kinship with where we come from in Louisville, which is that a lot of the country doesn't pay much positive attention to us. Among certain audiences, that creates a need or hunger for connection that makes the shows in Florida a little more interactive."

Oldham appears to be destined to perform at Miami Folkways. Last year, on a visit to Miami to see a good friend he's known since birth, his friend said, "I want to show you a place that I really think you should play," and walked him to the Miami Beach Bandshell. "One day, you really need to play here. It's the best," his friend promised. Soon after, Oldham booked the show. He says the spirit of the festival will be unpredictable, not corporate, and "exploratory in terms of spreading out the definition of folk music in terms of the different presentations."

As an actor, Oldham is set to appear alongside Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon in The Bikeriders, which is based on a book about the Outsiders Motorcycle Club. Despite having a minor role, you'll spot the musician in the trailer more than once. He also released his 21st album on Drag City, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, in 2023. The album features Louisville musical educators like violinist Sara Louise Calloway of the Louisville Academy of Music, mandolin player Dave Howard of Louisville Folk School, and singer Dane Waters. "A great music teacher is a great music listener and collaborator," he observes. This February, he'll work on new music with David Ferguson, Johnny Cash's producer-engineer, whom Oldham met while working with the late country legend.
The birth of his young daughter marked a change in perspective for Oldham. "I always felt like the music was important, and the music I was involved with, I tried to make it as valuable as possible through diligence and as much open-mindedness as possible and with the greatest creative collaborators I could persuade to work with me. But now, all of a sudden, with a child, the importance is magnified because everything that I sing is related to the development of this child. She will hear it now or later as well, as I'm making a living that's allowing us to put food on the table," he says. "So the music has all of these new values revealed through circumstance."

Oldham muses that people sometimes forget live performance is so much more than just heading to a show for the evening. "This orchestra is a group of human beings who are working within centuries of tradition of instrument making, technique, and composition — it's not just a night out." And in the face of an AI revolution that doesn't value human communication, he notes that it's important to remember that.

"All of these things are the sinews, and the connective tissue that allows us to be sane and to function, and playing music for people in rooms or even on records and playing with people is doubling down on what our perception of reality is built on, which is human connection."

Miami Folkways: Sounds Like Home. With Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Miami Sound Choir, Inez Barlatier & Jan Sebon, Stillblue, and more. 6 p.m. Sunday, January 21, at Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; miamibeachbandshell.com. Admission is free with RSVP via dice.fm.