Holy Hits: A sung incantation in front of the altar

He is one of the strangest birds of paradise in the modern music world. A little bit of Bob Dylan, a little bit of Madonna, a little bit of a freak and a whole lot of soul. Bonnie "Prince" Billy's real name is Will Oldham, he comes from Kentucky and Johnny Cash was his biggest fan. After ten years, the wondrous saint is back on tour.

The long, wild, scruffy beard is gone. Instead, Bonnie "Prince" Billy has stuck a few sequins on her face. The brightly colored shimmering stars reflect the light like the venerable walls of Leipzig's St. Peter's Church reflect the fervent singing of the man from Kentucky who has never had a hit, never had an album in the charts or even had any intention of getting there.

A full nave

The nave is still full when the 54-year-old appears. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, whose real name is Will Oldham, has left his band at home. On board for his first German tour in ten years are only a guitarist, who also plays trumpet and clarinet, and a violinist who accompanies the lamentations of the man who went to Hollywood to become an actor. But then he discovered his true calling in music.

Billy's songs are quirky, his lyrics full of sin, remorse and damnation, which the composer and guitarist, who still lives in Kentucky, paints on canvases of the original American landscape. Billy's voice dances and staggers through the melodies, for example in "I See A Darkness", the song that touched Johnny Cash's heart so much that he recorded it himself.

The Peterskirche version is rougher, the choral singing far from perfect. The three musicians sit on their little chairs in front of the altar, there is light and Billy, with a bald head, mustache and hoodie, who underlines his vocal cord exercises between tenor and a tilting head voice with gestures and grimaces. Show? No thanks.

Visit to Bach's grave

The songs from the new album "Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You" and classics such as "New Partner" are performed very quietly. So quietly that a tipped over beer bottle in the stalls startles the audience. But Billy immediately captivates everyone again: he says he has visited Bach's grave, because Bach is the greatest.

Then he plucks his guitar again, the clarinet cries and the soul comforter starts the next magical song. It is about blood, wine, sun and salvation through music. For the encore he puts on a baseball cap covered in palm trees. He now sings his version of "Is my Living in Vain" by the Clark Sisters. A hit when Billy was ten.