Bon Iver is a heavy-hitter not only in the world of indie-folk, but in popular music at large. Think about it: Justin Vernon and co. don’t really have a bad album, and they continue to collaborate with a wide variety of artists including Kanye West and James Blake. They released their debut album For Emma, Forever Ago on CD on July 8, 2007 (Happy 13th birthday, Emma!), before sharing it wide on Jagjagwar in early 2008. Vernon’s best-known and most widely covered song, “Skinny Love,” is on that album, as well as “Lump Sum,” “Flume,” “Re: Stacks” and other fan favorites. You can hear the band play the latter three of those songs at a Daytrotter session recorded on this day (July 21) in 2008, below.
Bon Iver’s self-titled album followed in 2011 to critical acclaim (it even made our best albums of the decade list). The experimental 22, A Million dawned in 2016, followed by Bon Iver’s most recent album i,i, which made our list of the best albums of 2019. Each is very different from the others, but that’s why Bon Iver continues to be such an intriguing and dynamic artist. He has in the process topped Billboard’s Alternative Albums list multiple times, in addition to a smattering of other charts.
Again, you can listen to Bon Iver’s 2008 Daytrotter session below, and/or download it on NoiseTrade right here.
