10 Perfect Folk Rock Albums With No Bad Songs
5. Outer South - Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band (2009)
Connor Oberst wears his influences on his sleeve. He's a clear fan of British indie groups like the Cure and the Smiths, but his most prominent sources of inspiration are the great American singer song writers: Bob Dylan, Neil Young and John Prine.
Outer South, saw Oberst recruit a team of friends to back him as the Mystic Valley Band. Each member was required to contribute at least one song to the project. With a total of six members with varying levels of skill, things might have sounded messy. But as a whole it didn't detract from the album's quality.
The tongue in cheek romp that is Air Mattress, is a playful song confessing the difficulties of having sex on a slowly deflating air bed. It's a far cry from the blistering political condemnation of Roosevelt Room. But it serves to balance everything out.
Oberst had a mind to replicate Dylan on this album, but he was clever, and didn't stick to one period of Dylan. You can hear Highway 61 (1965) all over the aforementioned Roosevelt Room, particularly with all the swirling organ and twanging telecasters. But Big Black Nothing, is more reminiscent of Dylan in the late '80s on Oh Mercy. When the collection of tracks is this fun though we can forgive the obvious homage, hell, Dylan spent his early days exclusively ripping off Woody Guthrie...