The Mountain Goats performed at least 61 times between November 2002, when Tallahassee came out, and May 2003, when they went into Bear Creek Studios, in the woods outside Seattle, to record We Shall All Be Healed. In several of those shows, Darnielle appeared solo, but he probably played more two-person Mountain Goats shows, in this six-month period, than in the band’s whole stage history to that point. He also tried out, in those concerts, several songs that would be on