Yim Yames. Photos: Frankie Steele (Olive Creative)

Conor Oberst

Mike Mogis

M. Ward

Will Johnson

I’m not a Conor Oberst fan. He can write, no question, but over the course of a few records, his developed vocabulary transforms into a beast he can’t quite control, squeezing out feeling and tone. I own “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn” and “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning,” have heard “Lifted” and “Cassadaga,” his Mystic Valley Band collaboration. Maybe I’m biased against a writer who sings with such suffering so often that I wonder if he’s putting me on, but I don’t know him personally, only through his artwork.

Monsters of Folk’s Halloween blowout was the first time Oberst got it right as far as I’m concerned. Functioning within a group, Oberst’s verge-of-dementia vocals mesh well with M. Ward, My Morning Jacket’s Yim Yames and the quartet’s arguable ringmaster and Oberst’s essential Bright Eyes collaborator, Mike Mogis. It’s in these smaller doses — a chorus here, a harmony there, a verse occasionally — that Oberst stays effective. Early in the night, Conor and Mogis stepped out on a blackened stage for Bright Eyes moment that rung powerfully, not a moment of dread to be found.

Tom Waits, M. Ward is stepping into your smoke. Louisville shut up long enough to be bewitched by Ward’s tuneful rasp and disarming stage presence, especially in light of a prolonged tuning fight with his guitar. “I don’t get out here much,” he said, “so I wanna make sure this guitar sounds just right for you all.” Cue rabid cheers. Ward’s Post War and Hold Time LPs prove singer-songwriters.

Mogis was pure utilitarian: pedal steel, guitar, etc., and shredding on a mandolin. Now working with Rachel Yamagata. Watch out.

Yames wasted no time in giving the hometown what it wanted, peeling off renditions of MMJ’s “Golden,” and bone-chilling renditions of “Smokin’ From Shootin’,” and “Bermuda Highway” with MOF drummer/Centro-matic’s Will Johnson on acoustic guitar and backing vox.—MH