Bonnie “Prince” BillyLie Down In The Light(Drag City)Released: May 20Years ago, watching Will Oldham warble songs and do weird yoga poses on the Beachland Ballroom’s stage in Cleveland, I drunkenly said to a friend: “I think he’s the best American songwriter around.” Of course, this kind of assertion is always met with cries of “No way! What about (fill in blank with Dylan, Springsteen, etc.)But I don’t think there’s going to be much argument when I say that Lie Down In the Light is Oldham’s finest Bonnie “Prince” Billy album. I barely even have words for it, it’s so good. Like all his best, the songs are homespun. The first thing you’ll notice is the brightness in Will’s voice. His vocals on The Letting Go and Master and Everyone were beautifully tossed-off and weary, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. But here, he lets loose with the cracks in his voice, almost showing them off like an old piece of wood he’s proud of. Lyrically, this is an album about looking back and coming to peace with your place in the world. And even though Oldham’s in his 40s, this is no middle-aged man’s record. If anything, it’s an enlightened record. Here we’re given lyrics like: “There’s a path/ there’s a beach/ there’s a horseshoe crab/ there’s my brothers, my girlfriends/ my mom and my dad/ and that’s all there needs to be” (“Easy Does It”) and “There’s only so much time here upon the earth” (“Other’s Gain”). Looking at his back catalog, it seems Oldham offered a prelude to this album in the liner notes to Master and Everyone when he reprinted the text of S.M. Maggioni’s “The Gypsy” (“But if today my skies are blue/ Why should I worry about things that may not happen?”) For anyone who identified with those lines, think of Lie Down In the Light as the musical equivalent. It’s an album about being grateful for where you are in life no matter what. And like anything of Oldham’s, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. He’s probably the only guy who could reach enlightment while smirking under his beard.