“It used to be more of a concern to me that people would understand exactly what I was saying, what I meant when I wrote something, and now I feel the opposite of that,” Conor Oberst tells Jaan Uhelszki in this month’s cover story. After 13 years of making music and seven albums with Bright Eyes, Oberst marks a spiritual and musical rebirth with his new selftitled debut, which was recorded in the Mexican city of Tepoztlan, near the home of Mexican mystics and in a place known for UFO sightings.
56 NEIL YOUNG
After quickly writing and recording his controversial Living With War album in 2006, Neil Young convinced Crosby, Stills and Nash to join him on the road for what became CSNY’s Freedom of Speech tour, a jaunt that ruffled more than a few feathers in many a red state. Young documented the trip in the film CSNY: Déjà Vu, which combines road footage with stories of some of the people deeply impacted by the war in Iraq.
62 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Though he’s releasing his second solo album in two years, Lindsey Buckingham has his sights set firmly on the next chapter of Fleetwood Mac. In an exclusive interview with Relix, Buckingham discusses the talk of Sheryl Crow joining Fleetwood Mac and the keys to the band’s vitality and sheer existence after more than three decades.
DEPARTMENTS
14 DEAR RELIX
Letters to the Editor
17 SCENE AND HEARD
Mindful music from around the globe: The Beat and Soundcheck
27 GLOBAL BEAT
Fifty years of bossa nova
28 MY PAGE
Incubus’ Mike Einziger on God
30 SOAPBOX
When band names go wrong
32 REARVIEW MIRROR
Edgar Winter
34 THE LIST
Mainstream political songs
36 THE CORE
G. Love
39 REEL TIME
311
42 ON THE VERGE
Five artists you should know about
45 SPOTLIGHT
MSTRKRFT
49 INTERVIEW
Mark Olson and Gary Louris
69 REVIEWS
Album and DVD reviews, plus a Q&A with Buddy Guy
86 PARKING LOT
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