The New York Times’ recent list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters ruffled some feathers, but such exercises exist to create controversy and expand the canon. You might cavil about the absence of, say, Bobby Braddock and Dan Penn, and you could make a case for John Darnielle, the leader of the long-running indie-rock-folk band The Mountain Goats, as another great who didn’t make the list. If songwriting is about a combination of craft and art that gives people a feeling of community in a hostile world, Darnielle, who is 59, is beyond doubt one of the finest songwriters currently working. He’s as much of a Gen-X stalwart as Stephen Malkmus, and The Mountain Goats have been incredibly prolific, with 23 studio albums to their credit. If you don’t know The Mountain Goats’ work, I suggest you start with 2022’s Bleed Out, which rocks out with electric guitars. That album’s “Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome” describes the debased Trump era — you can imagine Trump listening to it and thinking what a sincere tribute it is to his genius. The Mountain Goats’ latest album, 2025’s Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan, adds strings and woodwinds to a set of trenchant songs.
8 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl
925 Third Ave. N.
