Imagine our delight when Club Mercy fulfilled its hail-Mary prophecy of bringing Conor Oberst to a small venue in Santa Barbara.   Sure enough, coming to SoHo on September 30th is Conor Oberst, backed by openers, The Felice Brothers.

Some of you may have lost track of Conor since Bright Eyes released “Cassadaga” and toured in 2007.  To quote Oberst, “you know a lot can happen after everybody falls asleep.”

Following Cassadaga, ever-prolific Oberst released new albums and toured in 2008 and 2009 as Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and then followed that up with a record and tour as a part of supergroup Monsters of Folk (in case you missed the latter show at the Granada Theater, you missed arguably the show of the year in 2009).

We also caught both of his shows in 2008 and 2009 with the Mystic Valley Band that came within striking distance of Santa Barbara (at the Henry Fonda and the Echo).  As per the usual with this artist, each show was alternately poignant and incendiary.  He leaves it all on the stage, and every song is delivered with last-day-on-earth passion.  To sum up:  cancel all other plans on September 30th.

As for the post-Bright Eyes records, both the eponymously-titled first solo record and the second, “Outer South,” with MVB continued where Bright Eyes left off.  Both records are filled with stunning songwriting and deliveries.  Sure, there were the occasional clinkers on those records, but pound-for-pound Oberst has continued to show why he is amongst America’s best living songwriters and live performers.    Set forth below is a sampler of some of our favored songs from his two “solo” records.

First up from his first solo record is the great Get-Well-Cards, with its Dylan-esque allure and well-wrought lyrics.  Live, Oberst seethes and spits this song forth.  We like the following stanzas in particular:

“I want to be your bootlegger
Want to mix you up something strange
Braid your hair like a sister
Name you like a hurricane”

“Now they drive the cars up and down the beach
It’s ridiculous and everybody knows
Hear the Mustangs rev at the four way stop
You get ghosted when the light says go”

“I want to be your happiness
I want to be your common sense pain
Wrap your head in a picket fence
Rebuild after the hurricane.”

Conor Oberst–Get-Well-Cards

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/03-Get-Well-Cards.mp3|titles=03 Get – Well – Cards]

Another gem off that same record is Lenders in the Temple, with its poignant mix of love lost and greater love corrupted.  We like the following lyrics in particular:

“There’s money lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger’s going to break your heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If I loved you, well that’s my fault”

“I’d give a fortune to your infomercial
If somebody would just take my call
Take my call”

Conor Oberst–Lenders in the Temple

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/04-Lenders-In-The-Temple.mp3|titles=04 Lenders In The Temple]

We also tout Cape Canaveral, with its motions and metaphors of life and the joy to be lost and found amongst the ephemeral.  And more stellar stanzas:

“And watch the migrants smoke in the old orange grove
And the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral
You’ve been a father to me, your 1960’s speak
Give me comatose joy like re-run TV
While the mountainside was shining
Wild colors of my destiny

I saw your face age backwards
Changing shape in my memory
You taught me victory’s sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats”

….

“Like the citrus glow off the old orange grove
Or the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral
It’s been a nightmare for me
Some 1980’s greed
Gives me parachute dreams
Like old war movies
While the universe was drawn
Perfect circles form infinity

I watched the stars get smaller
Tiny diamonds in my memory
I know that victory is sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats”

Conor Oberst–Cape Canaveral

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/01-Cape-Canaveral.mp3|titles=01 Cape Canaveral]

And finally, off last year’s record, “Outer South,” we highly recommend I Gotta Reason, No. 2, wherein Oberst again grapples with the temporal and the forever, while incorporating some stunning Band-esque flourishes.  A new key to the kingdom?  This we gotta see.

“You know a lot can happen after everybody falls asleep
Ask the forest fire, ask the cop walking on the beat
And do right by them, work a little in your dreams
Don’t let time rob you, hold onto your memories
In the glass houses, in the pages of the Rolling Stone
I get a sick feeling, like I’m rocking in a little boat
Hear the big church bell, it’s ringing like a mobile phone
Such a long Sunday drive, and I’m taking it all alone

I want to belong to a reason
And cut a new key to the kingdom
And if anybody asks me, say I want to belong
If anybody asks me, say that it won’t take long
If anybody asks me, say I’m going to get this done
If anybody asks me, say I got a reason

In the last hard drive in the satellites that kick and spin
You’ll find that old footage so everything can live again
Pretty pink roses, the ostrich and the elephant
It’s the last Noah’s ark, everything’s got to fit
In the creased pages of a letter I’ve been trying to send
To a young widow who is desperate for some kind of friend
You’ll find a long list of eligible, handsome men
Who want to lay with her, upon the table of the elements

They’re going to hold strong to a reason
And cut a new key to the kingdom
And if anybody asks them, say they’re going to belong
And if anybody asks them, say that it won’t take long now
And if anybody asks them, say they’re going to get this done
And if anybody asks them, say they’ve got a reason.”

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band–I Gotta Reason, No. 2

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/15-Conor-and-Mystic-2nd-Track-15.mp3|titles=15 Conor and Mystic 2nd–Track 15]

OK, we lied.  Finally, below is a great duet with Gillian Welch (David Rawlings accompanying) of Oberst’s fine Lua, one of the best songs written in this millennium, if not ever.

Bright Eyes–Lua

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/16-Lua.mp3|titles=16 Lua]