I’ve been listening to to The Jordan Lake Sessions, Volumes 3 & 4 by The Mountain Goats a lot lately. These sets were recorded live in August of 20201, before the third wave of Covid-19 ravaged the United States, and are fabulous (as are Volumes 1 & 2, of course).
On my last listen, I was struck by this reflection from John Darnielle after “Against Pollution:”
There’s this thing, when you play a song and if it really goes someplace really cool during this horrifying pandemic, you go, “Man, what a pity it is that we can’t play that in a room full of people who are excited to be there and everybody feels safe and all that stuff!” I’ve been working a riff like this for half my life, but… Basic things life safety, when you’re young, when you’re seventeen, and you hear somebody talking about safety, you go “Oh my god, you ancient person, you five thousand year old man, talking to me about safety. What do I care?” and then in a time like this you think, “You know what is awesome? You know what is truly spectacular? Like, really worth dwelling on? Safety.”