Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
# Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest is a studio album by American musician Bill Callahan, released on June 14, 2019, by Drag City. It is the sixth studio album released under his own name, and seventeenth overall when including LPs released as Smog.

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest is a double album with twenty tracks and over sixty-three minutes in length, making it Callahan's longest album to date. The album received favorable reviews, with Pitchfork contributing editor Jayson Greene referring to it as a "highlight of his career".

## Release and promotion

The album was announced on May 2, 2019. The first three sides of the album were released digitally weeks apart before the album's release. The first side was released on May 23, 2019, the second side on May 30, 2019, and the third on June 6, 2019.

The album was premiered for early streaming through NPR's First Listen series starting on June 6, 2019.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :

| Aggregate scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.2/10 |
| Metacritic | 88/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Exclaim! | 9/10 |
| The Guardian | |
| The Irish Times | |
| Mojo | |
| NME | |
| The Observer | |
| Pitchfork | 8.5/10 |
| Q | |
| Uncut | 9/10 |

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest received positive reviews from critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 88, based on 22 reviews.

Laura Snapes of The Guardian praised the album as a "brilliantly sly celebration of family and the infinite". In his review for Pitchfork, Jayson Greene called the album "his warmest, his most generous, possibly his most profound. It is his longest, for sure, lounging comfortably across four sides of vinyl, none of it wasted. It is a high note, fond and deep and sustained."

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Bill Callahan, except where noted.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

## Charts

| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
| - | - |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 21 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) | 99 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) | 58 |
| French Albums (SNEP) | 168 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 56 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA) | 81 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 17 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) | 51 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) | 56 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 37 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 3 |
| US Folk Albums (Billboard) | 11 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 5 |
