The Mountain Goats

Once described by Rolling Stone as "rock's best storyteller", the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle started out recording albums on a Panasonic boombox in the early 1990s before becoming an established indie rock troubadour admired for his DIY spirit and his endless tales of everyday American life. Raised in Southern California, his parents' divorce led to a childhood plagued by drug addiction. Getting his life back on track, he became a psychiatric nurse, formed the Mountain Goats in 1991, and released his first cassette album, Taboo VI: The Homecoming, in 1992. Named after a Screamin' Jay Hawkins song, the Mountain Goats project continued to gather attention with early albums like 1996's Nothing For Juice and 2002's All Hail West Texas. Following the latter's release, Darnielle turned the Mountain Goats into a full-fledged band featuring Franklin Bruno on guitar and Peter Hughes on bass. Albums like 2015's Beat the Champ, 2017's Goths, and 2019's In League With Dragons all became Top 10 hits on Billboard's Independent Albums chart, while 2021's Dark in Here found the band bolstering its indie-folk foundation with contributions from former Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section organist Spooner Oldham.