Bright Eyes, 'Middleman' (Sessions)

Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst has been writing and performing songs for well over a decade now. But when you first meet him, it's hard to believe he's been at it for that long.

That disbelief quickly fades as soon as the band launches into a spot-on cover of 'Crazy as a Loon,' a folksy blues song that was written by the legendary folk troubadour John Prine. Even though they're separated by more than thirty years, Oberst and Prine actually has quite a bit in common with each other. They both mix folk, country, bluegrass and rock into a style that's hard to categorize and is completely their own. And both of them write songs that can be depressing, funny, over-the-top and even understated, sometimes all within a single track.