Coming of age musically in 2002 with The Charles C. Leary and Oh Me Oh My, two albums with similarly spare acoustics and semi-interchangeable tracklists, Banhart offered a fantasy of total escape from the anxieties of modernity. 

 Coming of age musically in 2002 with The Charles C. Leary and Oh Me Oh My, two albums with similarly spare acoustics and semi-interchangeable tracklists, Banhart offered a fantasy of total escape from the anxieties of modernity. 

 Coming of age musically in 2002 with The Charles C. Leary and Oh Me Oh My, two albums with similarly spare acoustics and semi-interchangeable tracklists, Banhart offered a fantasy of total escape from the anxieties of modernity. 

 Coming of age musically in 2002 with The Charles C. Leary and Oh Me Oh My, two albums with similarly spare acoustics and semi-interchangeable tracklists, Banhart offered a fantasy of total escape from the anxieties of modernity. 

 While so many other folk artists wrestled with self-serious questions of authenticity, Banhart was first and foremost a prankster, and his wacky sense of humor enriched his next double-hitter, 2004's Rejoicing in the Hands and Ni–o Rojo. 

 While so many other folk artists wrestled with self-serious questions of authenticity, Banhart was first and foremost a prankster, and his wacky sense of humor enriched his next double-hitter, 2004's Rejoicing in the Hands and Ni–o Rojo. 

 While so many other folk artists wrestled with self-serious questions of authenticity, Banhart was first and foremost a prankster, and his wacky sense of humor enriched his next double-hitter, 2004's Rejoicing in the Hands and Ni–o Rojo. 

 While so many other folk artists wrestled with self-serious questions of authenticity, Banhart was first and foremost a prankster, and his wacky sense of humor enriched his next double-hitter, 2004's Rejoicing in the Hands and Ni–o Rojo. 

 By the mid-2000s, Banhart's eccentricities had earned him the dubious title King of Freak Folk, putting him at the forefront of a California movement known for its largely acoustic music, heightened sense of whimsy, and Summer of Love grooming habits. 

 By the mid-2000s, Banhart's eccentricities had earned him the dubious title King of Freak Folk, putting him at the forefront of a California movement known for its largely acoustic music, heightened sense of whimsy, and Summer of Love grooming habits. 

 2007's Smokey Runs Down Thunder Canyon featured an honest-to-goodness guitar blow-out with "Seahorse," an eight-minute track that transitioned from quiet lullaby to jazzy dalliances with organs and flutes to an explosive Neil Young salute. 

 2007's Smokey Runs Down Thunder Canyon featured an honest-to-goodness guitar blow-out with "Seahorse," an eight-minute track that transitioned from quiet lullaby to jazzy dalliances with organs and flutes to an explosive Neil Young salute. 

 Banhart's major-label debut 2009's What Will We Be did little to reign in whatever wild beast was rooting around for turnips in his skull. And thank goodness for that. 

 Banhart's major-label debut 2009's What Will We Be did little to reign in whatever wild beast was rooting around for turnips in his skull. And thank goodness for that.