If you saw The Mountain Goats back in January at The Metro you will know what I mean when I say this. Best show this year (yeah, even better then Wilco), not a show but a pure and joyous night to celebrate the power of song. Well what could be better then four unreleased songs recorded recently on Daytrotter. This website is a continually excellent resource for live recordings of wonderful singers and bands. So apparently a couple of months ago during SXSW John Darnielle recorded these four tunes in acoustic mode and they are things of great beauty.

In the words of the great Darnielle-
Pinklon - "Pinklon Thomas is my hero. He was one of the best heavyweights of the 80s..."
Ethiopians -"Super-exaggerated images, plenty of melodrama, everybody always five minutes away from going off the deep end."
Red River Valley -"In the very early days of the Mountain Goats, I used to play this one live in the old holler-and-stamp-my-feet style."
Babylon Burning - "I’ve I.D.‘d it as a Peter Tosh song, but it could be a Bob Marley song: there’s a version available by the Wailers, but it was from when Tosh was in the band, and the melody sounds more Tosh than Marley to me."
Free Songs- Mountain Goats Daytrotter Sessions

On a some what related note a band that John Darnielle has praised in the past are Bowerbirds from North Carolina. They are Phil Moore, Beth Tacular and Mark Paulson and they play a melodic, dreamy style of acoustic, southern Indie rock. They have a new album out "Hymns For a Dark Horse" just released on Burly Time Records. The two tracks I have heard are excellent and I have the album on order now.
MP3: In Our Talons
MP3: Dark Horse

Oh, how good is this?
MP3: Wild Mountain Nation-Blitzen Trapper