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John Darnielle's Book: More Than Just My Story
2 Dec
Summary
- Darnielle aimed for balance, sharing stories without making it solely about himself.
- The book "This Year" explores 365 songs with annotations and personal reflections.
- It reveals inspirations from friends, collaborators, and literary heroes like Stephen King.
The Mountain Goats' frontman, John Darnielle, presents "This Year: 365 Annotated Songs," a project he initially hesitated to undertake. Darnielle's goal was to create a work that offered more than just personal anecdotes, aiming for a balance between sharing stories and focusing on the songs themselves. He viewed the book as a way to explore where songs truly reside—between the creator, the listener, and the world.
The book delves into the creative process behind 365 of Darnielle's songs, offering annotations that reveal their genesis. These insights are enriched by references to his wife, Lalitree, longtime collaborator Peter Hughes, and literary inspirations including Flannery O'Connor and Stephen King. Darnielle undertook significant 'excavation' of old notebooks and collected artifacts to verify memories and uncover surprising details about his songwriting journey.
Darnielle hopes "This Year" will be engaging for readers regardless of their familiarity with The Mountain Goats' music. He emphasizes that the book prioritizes being a good read, with more prose than lyrics, and aims to provide anecdotes that are provocative, inspiring, or amusing. The author, also known for his novels, believes good literature should be entertaining, a principle he applied to this new collection.
