Conor Oberst

Bright Eyes "Cassadaga" (Saddle Creek) * * * * BRIGHT EYES' eighth album is named for a Florida town that attracts psychics the way Cancun draws college kids, and the first voice on the record is that of a clairvoyant speaking amid a swirl of orchestral fragments about "getting rid of the old feelings, of the old ways of thinking."

Singer-songwriter M. Ward is an introvert blazing through an extrovert's world. In the span of 13 years, the 38-year-old artist (born Matthew Stephen Ward) has grown from recording hushed bedroom music in Portland, Ore.'s alt-troubadour scene to making albums with sitcom star Zooey Deschanel, co-founding the folk-rock supergroup Monsters of Folk and playing both Friday nights at this year's Coachella festival. Ward hasn't lost his affection for closeted, sometimes experimental folk, but in the last few years he's let in more light.

Conor Oberst got his first taste of a roaring crowd Saturday only a few lines into "Don't Know When but a Day is Gonna Come," the opening song of the set his band, Bright Eyes, played at the Hollywood Bowl. "They'll kill a man for what his father's done," the 28-year-old singer-songwriter hissed, following that line with an obscenely dismissive insult about said paterfamilias, and then the final blow: "I'm not him." The audience went nuts.

MUSIC Emmylou Harris is the Helen Mirren of country music. Dashing silver fox? Absolutely. Been around forever yet achieved hipster cachet in recent years? Ryan Adams, Conor Oberst and even Mark Knopfler would say so. Harris' voice has always been one of the genre's most visible yet its most adaptable to others' idiosyncrasies, and on her new record, "Hard Bargain," she very firmly takes center stage with wistful, heartrending tunes that pay tribute to Emmett Till, New Orleans and her late friend, songwriter Kate McGarrigle.

It's midway through Bright Eyes' concert at the Henry Fonda Theatre, and the group's 14 musicians have stopped their percussive, orchestral attack, leaving singer Conor Oberst alone at the center of the stage The crowd, buzzing from the intoxicating spell the group has cast for the past half-hour, becomes quiet as Oberst plucks a descending modal scale on his guitar, like something drawn from a haunted Appalachian homestead. Whatever it is, it sounds serious.

At the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, the Monsters of Folk pounced upon bottles of Kombucha tea with an enthusiasm befitting an '80s Juicy Fruit commercial. All four members of the indie rock super group -- My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James; troubadour Conor Oberst and producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis, both from Bright Eyes; and M. Ward of six lovingly crafted solo albums and the duo She & Him (with actress Zooey Deschanel) -- are devotees to the fermented elixir that most would consider an acquired taste.

There's a push-pull dynamic coursing through the late-in-life romance "Lovely, Still" that keeps the film intriguing even when it looks like it's going to sink into sentimentality. It's probably the first movie to premiere at the AARP's national convention to sport original music from indie-rock favorite Conor Oberst and a score from members of his band, Bright Eyes. And what does Oberst sing? Mostly Christmas songs, natch. Oberst's unlikely involvement comes through his friendship with fellow Omaha native Nik Fackler, who wrote and directed "Lovely Still" and shot it in his hometown.

MUSIC Emmylou Harris is the Helen Mirren of country music. Dashing silver fox? Absolutely. Been around forever yet achieved hipster cachet in recent years? Ryan Adams, Conor Oberst and even Mark Knopfler would say so. Harris' voice has always been one of the genre's most visible yet its most adaptable to others' idiosyncrasies, and on her new record, "Hard Bargain," she very firmly takes center stage with wistful, heartrending tunes that pay tribute to Emmett Till, New Orleans and her late friend, songwriter Kate McGarrigle.

Conor Oberst "Conor Oberst" (Merge) . . Conor Oberst hasn't done an album under his own name since the dawn of his career in the early '90s, establishing his reputation as the defining songwriter of his generation since then mainly under the Bright Eyes banner. This return to his original billing doesn't signal a radical reinvention. The name tag and most of the support team (bassist Macey Taylor, guitarist Nik Freitas and Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel are the core band)

Singer-songwriter M. Ward is an introvert blazing through an extrovert's world. In the span of 13 years, the 38-year-old artist (born Matthew Stephen Ward) has grown from recording hushed bedroom music in Portland, Ore.'s alt-troubadour scene to making albums with sitcom star Zooey Deschanel, co-founding the folk-rock supergroup Monsters of Folk and playing both Friday nights at this year's Coachella festival. Ward hasn't lost his affection for closeted, sometimes experimental folk, but in the last few years he's let in more light.

There's a push-pull dynamic coursing through the late-in-life romance "Lovely, Still" that keeps the film intriguing even when it looks like it's going to sink into sentimentality. It's probably the first movie to premiere at the AARP's national convention to sport original music from indie-rock favorite Conor Oberst and a score from members of his band, Bright Eyes. And what does Oberst sing? Mostly Christmas songs, natch. Oberst's unlikely involvement comes through his friendship with fellow Omaha native Nik Fackler, who wrote and directed "Lovely Still" and shot it in his hometown.

Even though Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice are one of L.A. indie rock's most doe-eyed couples, their debut album together as Jenny & Johnny emerged from a breakup. They'd split with one of their favorite musicians — Bob Dylan. "We were at this jam session in Laurel Canyon with our friend, [singer] Farmer Dave Scher," Rice said. "We'd played like three Bob Dylan covers, and Dave put down his guitar and said, 'I just can't do this Dylan Fantasy Camp anymore.'" Lewis and Rice each built their solo careers around the sprawling, metaphor-heavy songwriting style that Dylan turned into shorthand for "serious folk artist.

At the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, the Monsters of Folk pounced upon bottles of Kombucha tea with an enthusiasm befitting an '80s Juicy Fruit commercial. All four members of the indie rock super group -- My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James; troubadour Conor Oberst and producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis, both from Bright Eyes; and M. Ward of six lovingly crafted solo albums and the duo She & Him (with actress Zooey Deschanel) -- are devotees to the fermented elixir that most would consider an acquired taste.

Over the course of its 29-year history, Silver Lake's two-day Sunset Junction street fair has evolved from a locals-only neighborhood gathering into a citywide hipster happening, one that can attract major headliners such as this year's critically acclaimed folk-rocker Conor Oberst. Still, Scott Rodarte of the band Ollin said Saturday that there are continued benefits to being a local, albeit one with a guitar. Had the East L.A. six-piece not been on the bill, Rodarte said, he and his fellow musicians would have shown up with instruments and become "sneakers-in," avoiding the $20 entrance fee by pretending to be a part of the lineup.

Every August, it stalks the beating heart of Silver Lake, a monster of indie rock, soul and world music with booths hawking a variety of goods -- nerdy-cool book totes, T-shirts with saucy phrases, free AIDS tests, the ubiquitous tie-dyed dress -- and all manner of food, including stir-fried rice, meat on a stick and cups of sun-warmed beer. Yep, it's the Sunset Junction Street Fair, now in its 29th year and scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Headliners for the music festival-cum-people-watching extravaganza include Mary Wilson, Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band, Sly and Robbie, Built to Spill, Les Nubians and several other acts that will play on one of three stages.

Conor Oberst "Conor Oberst" (Merge) . . Conor Oberst hasn't done an album under his own name since the dawn of his career in the early '90s, establishing his reputation as the defining songwriter of his generation since then mainly under the Bright Eyes banner. This return to his original billing doesn't signal a radical reinvention. The name tag and most of the support team (bassist Macey Taylor, guitarist Nik Freitas and Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel are the core band)

Even though Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice are one of L.A. indie rock's most doe-eyed couples, their debut album together as Jenny & Johnny emerged from a breakup. They'd split with one of their favorite musicians — Bob Dylan. "We were at this jam session in Laurel Canyon with our friend, [singer] Farmer Dave Scher," Rice said. "We'd played like three Bob Dylan covers, and Dave put down his guitar and said, 'I just can't do this Dylan Fantasy Camp anymore.'" Lewis and Rice each built their solo careers around the sprawling, metaphor-heavy songwriting style that Dylan turned into shorthand for "serious folk artist.

Despite the music business' concerns about Internet file trading, a lot of record companies have offered free downloads of songs -- some as promotional "loss leaders," some (as with punk label Go Kart) to protest the industry's lawsuits against file traders. But a new label is planning to take it further and will give away all of its music on the Internet.

Conor Oberst got his first taste of a roaring crowd Saturday only a few lines into "Don't Know When but a Day is Gonna Come," the opening song of the set his band, Bright Eyes, played at the Hollywood Bowl. "They'll kill a man for what his father's done," the 28-year-old singer-songwriter hissed, following that line with an obscenely dismissive insult about said paterfamilias, and then the final blow: "I'm not him." The audience went nuts.

Bright Eyes "Cassadaga" (Saddle Creek) * * * * BRIGHT EYES' eighth album is named for a Florida town that attracts psychics the way Cancun draws college kids, and the first voice on the record is that of a clairvoyant speaking amid a swirl of orchestral fragments about "getting rid of the old feelings, of the old ways of thinking."