Johnny Cash listened to John Prine songs for inspiration; Bob Dylan called them "Midwestern mind trips to the nth degree." Letting loose a new generation of rock-folk-country misfits like My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Deer Tick is a great idea. The tunes are personalized with minor mutations, capturing the sort of signature life-affirming darkness epitomized in a couplet from "Six O'Clock News" (covered by Lambchop): "His brains were on the sidewalk and blood was on his shoes/C'mon, baby, spend the night with me."

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.