Down in rural Tennessee, place names often arose from the activities that occurred there: Whetstone Mountain, Poorhouse Branch, Tater Hill, Washboard Creek. If this folk etymology holds, it makes you wonder what was going on in Sweet Lips, Finger, and Hookers Bend. Each of these locations lends its name to a song on Sir Richard Bishop’s newest album, Hillbilly Erotica — the title of which suggests that he knows exactly what those folk were getting up to.
On Hillbilly Erotica, Bishop returns to his roots in more than one way. His paternal homestead of Enville, Tennessee, can be found among these backwoods haunts, and the album is steeped in the folk music of the region. It is a sequel of sorts to last year’s Hillbilly Ragas, which…
Tag Archive: Sir Richard Bishop
For decades, Sir Richard Bishop has been a formidable force in the world of experimental guitar music. From his foundational work with the Sun City Girls to his extensive and eclectic solo career, he has consistently defied categorisation, drawing from a global well of musical traditions to create something uniquely his own. His most recent offering, 2020’s Oneiric Formulary, continued this exploration of a “spirited polytheistic” approach to the guitar; described in these pages as “a roller-coaster of a success” and a “beautiful and brilliant riot of a record.”
Now, with Hillbilly Ragas, Bishop turns his gaze inwards, towards the heart of American folk traditions, only to shatter them and rebuild them in his own image.