Season one of I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats

Season one of I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats—a conversation series featuring Joseph Fink, creator of Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn’t Dead, and John Darnielle, founder, lead singer, and songwriter for beloved indie-rock icons the Mountain Goats—welcomes special guest Amanda Palmer in episode nine of the podcast series. They discuss the early days of the Mountain Goats, what it means to create your own cover of a song, and how the ways in which we discover new music have evolved over the years.

Palmer, who has done many covers of songs in her lifetime, talks about her rendition of “The Mess Inside” and the making of an accompanying video which will be released the first week of February.

“There’s something weirdly challenging about covering the Mountain Goats because the very hallmark of these songs is how authentically no-frills and lo-fi the original recordings are, and it felt like it would be insulting to overproduce anything. I was walking to town one night in upstate New York with my musician friend Sxip Shirey and we were ticking off the projects we had on our to-do list, and I mentioned this covers project, and by 10 pm that night we were in my kitchen playing ‘The Mess Inside’ together, and by 9 am the next morning I’d roped in my violist friend Rachel who happened to be staying with us, and my two assistants sang back-up and clapped. We didn’t do more than 6 rehearsals in a row before we recorded the song in the backyard, high on the immediacy of it all…that felt like the right way to do it. And you can’t hear it on the recording, but we were also watching Coco Karol, Sxip’s wife, dancing on the lawn with Rachel’s tiny baby in her arms, while we did the recording, because we also made a video of the take. Coco had just come through the darkness of a miscarriage, and as she danced with the tiny baby, ‘The Mess Inside’ took on a whole new meaning for everybody playing and singing. Music is amazing.”

Listen to & share Amanda Palmer's cover of the Mountain Goats' "The Mess Inside"

Pre-order I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats: All Hail West Texas now in the Merge store (where you can also find it bundled with the original album) ahead of its April 6 release. This special double-vinyl release will contain two LPs, one pink and one blue. All pre-orders will include an “I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats” patch, and 50 pre-orders chosen at random will receive a copy of the album signed by John Darnielle.

Catch up on the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Night Vale's website to listen to Laura Jane Grace’s cover of “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton,” Loamlands’ cover of “Fall of the Star High School Running Back,” the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn’s cover of “Fault Lines,” Erin McKeown’s cover of “Jenny,” Ibibio Sound Machine’s cover of “Color in Your Cheeks,” and more.

The Mountain Goats on tour:
Feb 26 Mobile, AL – Laidlaw Performing Arts Center
Apr 12 Cincinnati, OH – The Woodward Theater
Apr 13 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
Apr 14 Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre
Apr 15 Montreal, QC – L'Astral
Apr 17 Portland, ME – Port City Music Hall (SOLD OUT)
Apr 18 Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
Apr 20 Buffalo, NY – Asbury Hall @ Babeville
Apr 21 Clifton Park, NY – Upstate Concert Hall
Apr 22 Ardmore, PA - Ardmore Music Hall (SOLD OUT)
Apr 23 Ardmore, PA - Ardmore Music Hall