For the 20th anniversary of the sixth Bright Eyes album, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, we take a detailed look at how it was made. Conor Oberst began Bright Eyes in 1995 in Omaha, Nebraska as an outlet for his solo material that he had been writing as a teenager. He formed a partnership with Saddle Creek Records, a label founded by his brother Justin Oberst and Mike Mogis and began releasing his albums in 1998, starting with A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997. Later that year, he released Letting Off the Happiness, which marked his first collaboration with Mike Mogis. Fevers and Mirrors was released in 2000 and Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground followed in 2002. At this point, Conor moved to New York City and began writing the songs that would make up his next two albums. I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn were eventually released on the same day in 2005.

In this episode, Conor Oberst describes how moving to a New York as a midwestern transplant gave him a fresh perspective and brought a sense of romanticism to the songs he was writing. He also talks about a political awakening that he experienced after George W. Bush was elected and 9/11 happened. Connecting with musicians in New York inspired him musically as he began incorporating jazz elements and decided to embrace a minimal 70s folk sound for this record. Longtime Bright Eyes producer and band member Mike Mogis describes how they ended up making the record back in Nebraska but invited some new people to the sessions, including musicians from New York like Jesse Harris and Tim Luntzel. He also talks about the stripped down approach they used for this record and how he felt insecure about not relying on the studio tricks they had used for past records. By recording live with a small group of people and making the record in a very short amount of time, he discusses how this change suited the material Conor was writing. From a turbulent plane ride on the way to make the record to a creative burst in Conor’s songwriting to working on two very different records simultaneously to sparse arrangements and musical jokes to the shot in the dark of asking Emmylou Harris to sing backup, we’ll hear the stories of how the album came together.