Conor Oberst

It’s hard to overstate the impact that Conor Oberst has had on independent rock music in the 21st century. Born in Omaha, NE, in 1980, the singer is best known for his work as Bright Eyes. Oberst first began releasing music under this moniker in 1995, when he was still a precocious teenager unable to drive himself to the gigs he began scoring thanks to his inventive blend of raw, DIY rock in the vein of Elliott Smith and the abstract poetry of folk heroes like Bob Dylan. His breakthrough, 2000’s Fevers and Mirrors added a dash of emo to the mix, and 2002’s LIFTED or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground established Oberst as a songwriter with one eye firmly on the epic. In 2005, he shared I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, which introduced him to a wider audience thanks to the success of “First Day of My Life,” and, in 2007, Oberst tackled country music with Cassadaga. For all of his Bright Eyes success, though, Oberst has earned plenty of accolades for his collaborative work with Monsters of Folk (featuring Jim James, Mike Mogis, Will Johnson, and M. Ward), Better Oblivion Community Center (with Phoebe Bridgers), and punk band Desaparecidos. Those projects, alongside solo albums like the companion records Ruminations (2016) and Salutations (2017) prove that Oberst is both a singular generational songwriter and a great team player, too.