John Darnielle

John Darnielle was born in Bloomington, Indiana. Shortly after his birth, his mother and father moved to San Luis Obispo, as his father had gotten a job there. His parents divorced soon after, and his mother remarried to his stepfather who was physically abusive to both Darnielle and his mother. Darnielle grew up wanting to be a writer, with much encouragement from various teachers, and received accolades at a young age for his work. In his teen years, Darnielle used drugs heavily, eventually leading him to Portland, Oregon, where he spent a troubled year. He returned to California, and entered a psychiatric technician program at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, where he both worked and lived. In 1991, alongside the established act "The Casual Girls" (who were later known as "The Bright Mountain Choir"), Darnielle started performing and recording as "the Mountain Goats", with his first releases being entirely recorded on a Panasonic boombox onto cassette tapes. Around this time he began studying at Pitzer college in Claremont, CA, earning his bachelors in English and Classical Studies. Darnielle has been recording and performing as (and with) the Mountain Goats ever since, with the modern musical formation including Matt Douglas, Jon Wurster, and Peter Hughes. Darnielle is known for his verbosity and emotionally heavy music, and was heralded as "Rock's Best Storyteller" by Rolling Stone in 2015. Alongside the Mountain Goats, Darnielle also performs as "The Extra Lens" with Franklin Bruno, and writes novels. He has a wife and two sons. He currently resides in Durham, North Carolina.