The Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats is the musical project of singer-songwriter, novelist, pianist and guitarist John Darnielle. He has the distinction of being named by the The New Yorker magazine as 'America’s best non-hip-hop lyricist'; in its June 2006 issue, Paste magazine dubbed Darnielle one of the '100 Best Living Songwriters'. Darnielle’s lyrics are erudite and compassionate and filled with imagery that reference classical literature, religion, mythology, culture, art, and history. Darnielle has stated that all songs written up to and including those on Tallahassee are fictional, but that We Shall All Be Healed, The Sunset Tree, and other more recent work are partially autobiographical.

Darnielle began performing under the name the Mountain Goats in 1991 in Claremont, California, where he attended Pitzer College and worked as a psychiatric nurse. The band's name, the Mountain Goats, is a reference to the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song Yellow Coat. Darnielle released his first album, Taboo VI: The Homecoming, on Shrimper Records. Many of his first recordings and performances featured Darnielle accompanied by members of the all-girl reggae band, The Casual Girls, who became known as The Bright Mountain Choir. One of this group's members, Rachel Ware, continued to accompany Darnielle on bass, both live and in studio, until 1995.