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'I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats' is more than a playful slogan diehard fans toss around to set themselves apart from casual listeners—it's also a compilation of cover songs from the band's landmark album All Hail West Texas and a podcast. Hosted by Joseph Fink, creator of the acclaimed Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn't Dead podcasts, alongside John Darnielle himself, each episode kicks off with the original track played in full. Then, the two chat about the song's background. Midway through, the artist set to cover the tune is introduced, sharing their reasons for choosing the song or their approach to the remake. This discussion typically involves both Fink and Darnielle, though occasionally it's just one of them. The episode wraps up with the cover version.
The podcast's charm lies in its thorough exploration of the creative process. Darnielle is brutally honest about his life, struggles with addiction, faith, love of metal, the meanings behind his songs, and how and why they were written and recorded. He possesses a rare ability to say something profoundly warm and insightful, then come across as the most pretentious and pompous person alive, only to become utterly endearing seconds later.
As an interviewer, Fink poses probing questions—or as probing as one can be while hanging out with a hero—and lets Darnielle ramble far longer than a typical interviewer would. He knows that eventually, Darnielle will circle back to the source material with a fantastic story that might never have been heard otherwise.
This compilation of tracks from the show opens with Laura Jane Grace covering 'The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton.' This is likely one of the most popular and well-known Mountain Goats songs, and Grace delivers a faithful, almost note-for-note rendition—just her singing and playing acoustic guitar. While it can be annoying when musicians offer a carbon copy for a project like this, in this case, it works perfectly. She reminds us why we fell in love with the song in the first place: its simplicity and the passion and fervor of its vocal delivery.
Loamlands deliver a fairly safe full-band cover of 'Fall of the Star High School Running Back.' There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it feels pedestrian. The lyrics—usually the main event in a Mountain Goats song—get lost under a barrage of electric guitar licks. The next track, however, seriously ramps things up. 'Colour in Your Cheeks' is covered by the afro-funk-pop outfit Ibibio Sound Machine. Their version starts with a hypnotic, cascading guitar riff that fades out before a stark drum beat and Eno Williams' vocals kick in. Woozy pop synths take over from the guitars, adding to the melancholic nature of Darnielle's lyrics.
Craig Finn's take on 'Fault Lines' also mixes things up. The Hold Steady frontman opens his cover with haunting piano, then combines pounding beats and psychedelic flourishes to create some of the poppiest moments on the album. Finn seems to understand what makes Mountain Goats songs great, and his vocal delivery is almost perfect for the track's derision of material living. Another high point is Erin McKeown's version of 'Jenny.' Like Grace's cover, this is a fairly honest rendition. McKeown's delivery is more playful, and she appears to relish performing 'Jenny.' But unlike Grace, McKeown brings a fiddle-playing friend along. The use of fiddle really helps sell the line 'Hi diddle dee dee, goddamm, the pirate's life for me.'
The standout track is 'Jeff Davis Country Blues' by Julian Koster—of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Music Tapes—which alone is worth the price of admission. His cover does what all great covers should: it takes the elements that make the original great and incorporates them into the covering artist's style to create something new and exciting. At just over two minutes, it's the second-shortest song on the album, but it feels like it has the most packed in. As with much of Koster's music, 'Jeff Davis Country Blues' features exquisite melodies with a dreamlike quality. Koster explained on the podcast that the song came to him in a dream. Whether that's true or just a nice story to explain a lurid cover doesn't really matter—this version is exquisite and surpasses the original. Despite being an instrumental, you can almost hear the lyrics coming from his singing saw.
Let's hope Fink has done enough to convince Darnielle and Merge Records to green-light a second season. It would be nice to see him pick a lesser-known album with a more varied lineup of artists. That said, this album is loaded with incredible covers from some heavy hitters of the last decade's indie scene, with Andrew Bird and Amanda Palmer topping the list—more than enough to make us dance like drunken sailors.
All hail indeed!
