Thanks in part to Don DeLillo's 1973 novel Great Jones Street, it didn't take long for the rock-star-toiling-away-in-seclusion narrative to go from the stuff of critical legend to obvious fodder for parody. Nevermind that two years later saw the release and instant canonization of Bob Dylan and the Band's long-buried The Basement Tapes—the inspiration, in fact, for the DeLillo character Bucky Wunderlick's "The Mountain Tapes." And so for listeners, the brilliant, hermetic artist has persisted, both as a reductive, suspect concept and as an undeniably seductive one. Listed here, some examples of the latter.

The D.C./Baltimore psych-folk act Le Loup retreated to a cabin in North Carolina to record much of its latest album, Family (out now on Hardly Art) and the result is druggy, country-fried, and poppy. Take "Grow," which sports what might be the best pairing of Beach Boys harmonies and the "Be My Baby" beat since, well, the Beach Boys. But the real innovation here is space: Where past Le Loup songs were concise and linear, Family's breathe and frolic and expand. The band—which performs Saturday at the Black Cat with Pree—recently recorded a session for All Our Noise. Check it out:

More records made in wooded seclusion after the jump: Reluctant backwoods Svengalis, some latter-day Johnny Cash, and brassy mountain ditties!

Dandelion Gum by Black Moth Super Rainbow (2007): The members of this blissed-out post-rock band cloak their identities with costumes, pseudonyms, and video-heavy performances, hoping to emphasize their music by de-emphasizing the personalities making it. As the group has acknowledged, this strategy of willful obscurity hasn't exactly worked out. No kidding: When you record your breakthrough record in a Western Pennsylvania cabin and sing trippy, hypnotic songs about witches, you're more or less asking to be typecast as backwoods Svengalis.

American Recordings by Johnny Cash (2004): The cabin that the late Johnny and June Carter Cash built in Hendersonville, Tenn., in the late '70s is definitely that, rustic patina and all. But in the early ’90s, when Johnny began collaborating with producer Rick Rubin for a tetralogy of morose, mostly acoustic albums, the space became a full-fledged studio, which is now run by Johnny and June's son, John Carter Cash. You can't find a knobsman more pro than Rubin, but in this case, he simply captured Johnny singing and strumming in his living room. How the Man in Black then wound up with this terrifying Anton Corbijn video, I can't quite say:

Cabin in the Woods by Retsin (2001): The name says it all. Tara Jane O'Neil and Cynthia Nelson met in the early ’90s when their bands, Rodan and Ruby Falls, shared a tour, and they soon became romantic partners and musical collaborators. The final Retsin album, made more or less in isolation in upstate New York, is dusty and acoustic, drawing as deeply from the well of American folk music as the '90s indie-folk milieu. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Retsin contributed to a Jandek tribute compilation around the same time.

Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project by Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn and Ginger Brooks Takahashi (2003): This between-album project found the Olympia, Wash., singer Mirah retreating for a month to the Blue Ridge Mountains with an eight-track and some fellow musicians. There, she recorded some playful ditties—more washboard band than precise, lo-fi folk—and found sounds. And then she laid down this brassy jam, which recounts, doo-wop refrain in tow, the month-long experience:

Image courtesy of the Cash Cabin Studio MySpace page.

I’ve heard the Name Game play out in many contexts, but at a concert—between the drummer and some guy standing ten rows into the audience—was a new one. “Do you know Rebecca Callahan*?” shouted a tall kid in a white Polo. “She was, like, two grades ahead…”

“Rebecca, oh, yeah,” replied Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman.

This, one supposes, is the fate of stage banter at a show when the drummer admits he grew up in a nearby suburb (Rockville) and is pressed upon to kill time between every song while the lead singer re-tunes his 12-string guitar and the rest of the band hangs out in unhelpful silence. But that was the sort of casual vibe Fleet Foxes brought to the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, breaking down the distance between the band and the sold-out audience in such a way that it felt less like a crowded concert hall than the living room of a buddy who makes you pay $9 for a Guinness. Other topics of band-audience banter included the menu at Rockville pastry shop The Fractured Prune, frontman Robin Pecknold’s bad haircut (hidden beneath a red knit hat, which he refused to remove), and whether Tillman more closely resembled Jesus Christ, Charles Manson, or Rob Zombie.

The singing, though, was the show’s real fascination. The band’s post-Beach Boys, fjord-folk sound (which has finally given a cappella nerds and hipsters something to talk about with each other) relies heavily on dynamic three- and four-part harmonies, with subtle moving lines within them. It’s a slippery weapon to wield, and proper use requires absolute precision. But from the opener—the a cappella “Sun Giant” leading into “Sun It Rises”—through the epics “Mykonos” and “Blue Ridge Mountains,” the Foxes were tuned to each other far more consistently than Pecknold’s 12-string. This was especially impressive given that it was their opening show of the tour, and the tea-swilling Pecknold, as he put it, already felt “like dying.”

M. Ward, who played the following night, actually sounded like he might be dying—although that’s just an incident of his naturally laryngitic voice. No matter for Ward, whose mission seemed to be keeping old styles alive. The Hoarse Whisperer deployed his definitive rasp in service of what sounded like a blend of throwback blues melodies, surfer rhythms, and country-folk instrumentation (an alchemy that is rendered all too generic by the “indie” distinction that is often foisted upon him). Ward hinted at these influences all night—particularly on songs like “Big Boat,” an uptempo 12-bar that could have been lifted directly from the ‘50s pop charts—before sending the crowd into a full-fledged fit of twisting and hand-jiving with a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven.”

On both nights I only caught the tail end of the opening acts, but my impressions were that Espers—who played pleasant baroque despite the considerable handicap of being comatose—was all substance and no style; Ledroit Park natives Chain & the Gang—who dressed in striped prison jumpsuits and played one interminable, mostly spoken-word “song” for the last 15 minutes of its set—was all style and little substance. (But bear in mind, these were only superficial impressions.)

*not her real name.

Photo courtesy of www.jeremycharles.com.

Oh, it's time to get out your X-Mas LPs. Two nights ago, Mingering Mike was having me track down "White Christmas" by the Drifters and a sweet James Brown yuletide favorite. Thank G-d for iTunes as the Drifters track was AWOL on Amazon. And thank G-d for Red Onion, the record shop just got in a batch of X-Mas favorites from the Beach Boys, Ernest Tubb, and Lou Rawls. Not to mention the Charlie Brown Christmas LP that everyone must listen to. If that's not your bag, he's got a special sale on most Numero LPs which make great gifts! And of course, tons more new arrivals:

ROCK:

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND: LIVE/1975-85 (SEALED BOX SET)

THE DOORS: WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE GOLD MINE

MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND: SELF-TITLED (1972)

SWAMP WATER: SELF-TITLED (1972, LINDA RONSTADT'S BACKING BAND)

BOB DYLAN: THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' (MONO, WITH INSERT)

BOB DYLAN: HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (70'S STEREO PRESSING)

BOB DYLAN: THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' (70'S STEREO PRESSING)

BOB DYLAN: JOHN WESLEY HARDING (2 EYE, 360 STEREO PRESSING)

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND: AT FILLMORE EAST (FIRST PRESSING PINK LABEL CAPRICORN)

FOOD: FOREVER IS A DREAM (REISSUE OF THIS AMAZING PSYCH ALBUM)

TRAFFIC: THE LOW SPARK OF HIGH HEELED BOYS

PEARL JAM: VS. (I THINK THAT'S WHAT IT'S CALLED, THE ONE WITH THE SHEEP ON THE COVER)

BUDDY HOLLY: THE NASHVILLE SESSIONS

JOHN MAYALL: BLUES FROM LAUREL CANYON

THE JAMES GANG: YER ALBUM (SUPER CLEAN COPY OF THEIR FIRST ALBUM)

FANNY HILL: SELF-TITLED

SIMON & GARFUNKEL: COLLECTED WORKS (SEALED 5 LP BOX SET)

THE YOUNG RASCALS: SELF-TITLED (SUPER CLEAN MONO PRESSING)

JIMI HENDRIX: NINE TO THE UNIVERSE

JIMI HENDRIX: ROOTS OF HENDRIX

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: ELECTRIC LADYLAND

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: AXIS: BOLD AS LOVE

NEIL YOUNG: OLD WAYS

BEACON STREET UNION: EYES OF THE BEACON STREET UNION (BOSTON PSYCH)

THE SAVAGE YOUNG BEATLES: THIS IS THE... (RARE EARLY BEATLES RECORD ON SAVAGE, WITH PETE BEST, BEAUTIFUL COPY OF THIS RARE LP)

THE BEATLES: LET IT BE (RED APPLE LABEL)

THE BEATLES: REVOLVER

THE BEATLES: SGT. PEPPERS...

TRAVELING WILBURYS: VOLUME ONE (SEALED ORIGINAL)

THE WHO: TOMMY AS PERFORMED BY THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

PINK FLOYD: DARK SIDE OF THE MOOD (COMPLETE WITH 2 POSTERS AND 2 STICKERS)

SNAFU: SELF-TITLED

J.D. BLACKFOOT: THE ULTIMATE PROPHECY (REISSUE)

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS: IN THE BEGINNING (STEREO PRESSING OF THIS HARD TO FIND EARLY LP)

JOHN LENNON/YOKO ONO: HEART PLAY

SIMON & GARFUNKEL: BOOKENDS (360 STEREO PRESSING)

THE HOMBRES: LET IT ALL HANG OUT (VERVE FORECAST)

JEFFERSON AIPLANE: AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S (STEREO, BLACK LABEL WITH DOG AT TOP, BEAUTIFUL COPY OF THIS CLASSIC)

NEW ORDER: BROTHERHOOD

B-52's: SELF-TITLED

WILD SWANS: PEEL SESSIONS

MODERN ENGLISH: MESH & LACE (THIER FIRST ALBUM, KINDA SOUNDS LIKE JOY DIVISION)

STANTON MIRANDA: WHEELS OVER INDIAN TRAILS (FACTORY BENELUX)

TOM TOM CLUB: GENIUS OF LOVE 12" (PICTURE SLEEVE, LONG VERSION)

KLAUS NOMI: ICUROK/SIMPLE MAN 12"

GANG OF FOUR: AT THE PALACE (LIVE LP)

VOICE FARM: SELF-TITLED (SAN FRANCISCO POST PUNK)

MX-80 SOUND: HARD ATTACK

MX-80 SOUND: CROWD CONTROL

STINKY TOYS: SELF-TITLED (RARE FRENCH POST-PUNK)

THE REPLACEMENTS: SORRY MA, FORGOT TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH (TWIN-TONE)

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS: INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL (ROUGH TRADE)

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS: NOBODY'S HEROES (UK PRESSING)

MISSION OF BURMA: SIGNALS, CALLS, AND MARCHES (ORIGINAL ON ACE OF HEARTS)

FEAR: THE RECORD (ORIGINAL ON SLASH RECORDS)

INTO ANOTHER: CREEPY EEPY

VARIOUS ARTISTS: THE PEOPLE'S RECORD (WARNER BROTHERS COMP FROM 1976)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (WARNER BROTHERS COMP FROM 1972)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: APPETIZERS (WARNER BROTHERS COMP FROM 1973)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: I DIDN'T KNOW THEY STILL MADE RECORDS LIKE THIS (WARNER BROTHERS COMP FROM 1975)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: THE FORCE (WARNER BROTHERS COMP FROM 1974)

JAZZ:

PAUL BLEY/GARY PEACOCK/BARRY ALTSCHUL: JAPAN SUITE

DUKE ELLINGTON: THE WORLD OF... VOLUME 2 (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

CHICO HAMILTON: THE DEALER (IMPULSE RECORDS, WITH LARRY CORYELL & ARCHIE SHEPP)

CHARLIE BYRD: MORE BRAZILIAN BYRD

PAUL HORN: IN INDIA (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL, BLUE NOTE RE-ISSUE SERIES)

THELONIOUS MONK: WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD MONK (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

BILLIE HOLIDAY: GOD BLESS THE CHILD (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: BLACK GIANTS (COLUMBIA COMP. 2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

STANLEY TURRENTINE: SALT SONG (SEALED ORIGINAL)

STANLEY TURRENTINE: DON'T MESS WITH MISTER T. (SEALED ORIGINAL)

STANLEY TURRENTINE: THE BADDEST TURRENTINE (SEALED ORIGINAL)

JOHN COLTRANE: THE GENTLE SIDE OF... (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

JOHN COLTRANE: THE BEST OF... HIS GREATEST YEARS (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

JOHN COLTRANE: THE BEST OF... HIS GREATEST YEARS, VOLUME 2 (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

JOHN COLTRANE: THE ART OF... THE ATLANTIC YEARS (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: THE ATLANTIC FAMILY AT MONTREUX (WITH PASSPORT, HERBIE MANN, DON ELLIS...)

ARCHIE SHEPP: CRY OF MY PEOPLE (IMPULSE RECORDS, 1973)

JOHNNY GRIFFIN/JOHN COLTRANE/HANK MOBLEY: BLOWIN' SESSIONS (BLUE NOTE RE-ISSUE SERIES)

LEE MORGAN: SELF-TITLED (2LP SET ON GNP/CRESCENDO, EARLY 60's SESSIONS)

JOHNNY "HAMMOND" SMITH: STIMULATION (WITH FREDDIE McCOY, PRESTIGE BLUE LABEL, STEREO)

GABOR SZABO: HIGH CONTRAST (WITH BOBBY WOMACK, BLUE THUMB RECORDS)

GENE AMMONS: MY WAY (WITH IDRIS MUHAMMAD, PRESTIGE RECORDS

LUCKY THOMPSON: ILLUMINATIONS (2LP ON GROOVE MERCHANT, 1974)

MICHEL LEGRAND: LIVE AT JIMMY'S (FUNKY SET FROM 1975)

LEE KONITZ QUINTET: PEACEMEAL (MILESTONE RECORDS, 1969)

FUNK/SOUL/DISCO:

KONK: YOUR LIFE 12"

LAID BACK: KEEP SMILING (WITH WHITE HORSE)

EARL GRANT: SELF-TITLED (DECCA)

NORMAN CONNORS: ROMANTIC JOURNEY

THE PERSUASIONS: ACAPPELLA (STRAIGHT RECORDS, VG)

SARAH: VAUGHAN: A TIME IN MY LIFE (MAINSTREAM RECORDS)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: STARS OF THE APOLLO THEATRE (SEALED ORIGINAL)

ZULEMA: MS. Z

NINA SIMONE: BEST OF (PHILIPS RECORDS)

JAMES BROWN: SOUL SYNDROME (SEALED ORIGINAL)

FUNKADELIC: STANDING ON THE VERGE OF GETTING IT ON

BLUES:

WILLIE DIXON & MEMPHIS SLIM: WILLIE'S BLUES (SEALED OBC PRESSING)

BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON: KING OF THE COUNTRY BLUES (2LP YAZOO COMPILATION)

SUNNYLAND SLIM: SLIM'S GOT HIS THING GOIN' ON

LITTLE WILLIE JOHN: 15 HITS (KING RECORDS)

WILLIE DIXON: PEACE?

LIL GREEN: ROMANCE IN THE DARK

FOLK/COUNTRY/BLUEGRASS:

JOHNNY CASH: THE HOLY LAND (WITH 3-D COVER)

JERRY JEFF WALKER: DRIFTIN' WAY OF LIFE (VANGUARD RECORDS)

VASSAR CLEMENTS: SELF-TITLED

DOC WATSON: GOOD DEAL!

DOC WATSON & SON: SELF-TITLED

RICHARD & MIMI FARINA: THE BEST OF (2LP SEALED ORIGINAL ON VANGUARD RECORDS)

OLA BELLE REED: SELF-TITLED (VANGUARD RECORDS, 1972)

LINDA COHEN: LAKE OF LIGHT (CREEPY FOLK WITH ELECTRONIC EFFECTS)

KENNETH THREADGILL: YESTERDAY & TODAY (PSG RECORDS, THE FATHER OF AUSTIN COUNTRY MUSIC)

KITTY WELLS: SELF-TITLED

MIKE ENIS AND COMPANY: POPULAR DANCE MUSIC OF THE INDIANS OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA

BERT JANSCH: CONUNDRUM

MIKE AULDRIDGE: BLUES AND BLUE GRASS (TAKOMA RECORDS, W. VASSAR CLEMENTS, LINDA RONSTADT...)

THE ORIGINAL CARTER FAMILY: MY OLD COUNTRY HOME (SEALED)

AVANT GARDE/CLASSICAL:

ERNESTO BITTETI: CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FOR GUITAR (SEALED ORIGINAL)

ALDO CICCOLINI: PIANO MUSIC OF ERIC SATIE VOL. 6 (SEALED ORIGINAL)
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO HEAD ON THE MOOG

ERIK SATIE: MURCURE & SOCRATE

NEW MUSIC OF CHARLES IVES (SEALED ORIGINAL)

GLENN GOULD: COMPLETE MOZART PIANO SONATAS VOL. 5 (WLP)

LUKAS FOSS: ECHOI/TIME CYCLE

INTERNATIONAL:

VARIOUS ARTISTS: LUPICINO (SONGS OF LUPICINO RODRIGUES BY CAETANO VELOSO, GAL COSTA AND OTHERS)

CHICO BUARQUE & MARIA BETHANIA: AO VIVO

BURNING SPEAR: MAN IN THE HILLS

JABULA: SELF-TITLED (AFRICAN)

SOUNDTRACKS:

THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN (SEALED APPLE ORIGINAL, WITH BADFINGER)

GREAT SCIENCE FICTION FILM MUSIC (JAPANESE COMP.)

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY VOLUME 2 (SEALED ORIGINAL)

GET YOURSELF A COLLEGE GIRL (SONGS BY THE ANIMALS, STANDELLS, STAN GETZ/ASTRUD GILBERTO, JIMMY SMITH...)

MARAT SADE (MUSIC BY RICHARD PEASLEE)

CHRISTMAS:

RAMSEY LEWIS TRIO: SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS

RAMSEY LEWIS TRIO: MORE SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS

MERRY CAJUN CHRISTMAS

VINCE GUARALDI: A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (ORIGINAL COVER)

ERNEST TUBB AND HIS TEXAS TROUBADOURS: BLUE CHRISTMAS (SEALED)

LOU RAWLS: MERRY CHRISTMAS HO! HO! HO! (PRODUCED BY DAVID AXELROD)

THE BEACH BOYS: CHRISTMAS ALBUM