The Mountain Goats get productive. In this episode, it's 1993 and John Darnielle is reading Sophocles, writing prolifically, and recording immediately. Over in England, I'm reading the names of dinosaurs over my grandmother's shoulder. Topics include: self-belief, grace, the Wedding Present, and the Southern California divorce rate.

Show notes:

‘John On Process #2,’ discussing unfinished songs from 1993-4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH0DnQFgyGc

John’s interview with Acoustic Guitar Magazine: https://acousticguitar.com/indie-rocker-john-darnielle-of-the-mountain-goats-embraces-acoustic-guitar/

Sasha Frere-Jones, on John and Craig Finn as literary songwriters, for the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/05/16/the-declaimers

John describes his early process in a note on the release of Songs for Pierre Chuvin: https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-pierre-chuvin

Ben Opipari interviews John for Songwriters on Process: https://www.songwritersonprocess.com/blog/2017/5/15/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats

The Annotated Mountain Goats entry for Transmissions to Horace: http://web.archive.org/web/20200927231020/https:/kylebarbour.org/tmg/horace.html

Daoud Tyler-Ameen’s piece for NPR on ‘No Children’ and the California divorce rate: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/10/653349496/the-mountain-goats-american-anthem-no-children-dysfunction

Matador Review interview, mentioning ‘workers in song’: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/kyle-munson/2017/02/25/john-darnielle-wanted-write-iowans-so-he-came-up-creepy-rural-elegy-different-sort/98192656/

An idea also picked up in this Aspen Times interview: https://www.aspentimes.com/news/a-good-time-with-mountain-goats/

Rob Delaney interviews John Darnielle, including a brief discussion of suicide: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/performance-art-rob-delaney-interviews-john-darnielle

My anthology of dinosaur poems for children, Dragons of the Prime: https://theemmapress.com/shop/dragons-of-the-prime/

John on tractors (interview with the Des Moines Register): https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/kyle-munson/2017/02/25/john-darnielle-wanted-write-iowans-so-he-came-up-creepy-rural-elegy-different-sort/98192656/