Monsters of Folk is the rather awesomely-named project currently occupying the time of all your favorite shaggy troubadours (the official roster: Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, My Morning Jacket's Jim James, M. Ward and jack-of-all-trades Mike Mogis), and despite their insistence to the contrary — modesty and scruffiness do go hand-in-hand, after all — they are 100 percent a "supergroup."

We can understand why the Monsters would object to being saddled with the title. After all, while the idea of a supergroup may seem pretty sweet ("Dude, it'll be like an All-Star team ... but a band!"), it turns out that the overwhelming number of them are actually pretty lousy (GTR? Zwan? The Firm?), the end result of poor planning and even poorer ego management.

Luckily, the Monsters are not terrible, as evidenced by their self-titled debut, which is due on September 22. Over 15 well-worn, strummy tracks (festooned with the occasional electro burble) they explore folk-y topics like religion, politics and — of course — life on the open road, the latter of which is especially fitting, considering they're gearing up to tour the U.S. and Europe later this year.

And, of course, we told them this, which is why they finally agreed to not only talk about some of history's greatest supergroups, but to rate them as well. So watch the Monsters weigh in on acts like Damn Yankees (let's just say Oberst isn't the biggest fan) and the Traveling Wilburys, plus non-musical supergroups like the Justice League and the 1992 USA Men's National Basketball team (aka "The Dream Team"). You'll be shocked to hear how much James actually knows about hoops.

It's beginning to feel like I write this same thing every single year (and, lo and behold, I have), but, wow, the lineup for Coachella 2009 is super underwhelming. Again.

Perhaps it's due to the inflated expectations from previous years, or the constant stream of hype, speculation and false-starts that accompanies the unveiling of the lineup each and every winter, but once again, I am let down by the spate of bands the promoters at Goldenvoice have lined up for Coachella '09. For the second year in a row, there are no big-ticket reunions (long a 'Chella staple), no "Man-I-gotta-see-'em" headliners (Paul McCartney, probably playing stuff from his crummy electronic side-project! The Killers! The Cure!). There is Franz Ferdinand. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And, Amy Winehouse, provided she makes it until April. Oh, and there is Leonard Cohen, who should actually be pretty rad now that I think of it.

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On last night's Mormon-fueled "American Idol" auditions in Salt Lake City, we got an Osmond, a tone-deaf Goth girl, a whole bunch of toothsome white people, one heartwarming hippie trainwreck and, without a doubt, my favorite contestant of the season: Megan Corkrey, a gorgeous, newly single mom with a mean sleeve of tattoos and a voice that — to borrow a phrase from former New York Times music critic Kalefa Sanneh — sounds like "carved steam."

Of course, Sanneh was writing about Feist at the time, which sort of goes to my point: Megan Corkrey was far and away the best contestant last night (perhaps even the best of the season so far), she is beautiful and inspiring, and possesses a subtle, lithe little voice, but there is no way in the world she is going to win "American Idol." Read more...

It's Wednesday, and you know what that means: We've got just two days to go before the start of another weekend, and the latest albums sales figures are in. Unfortunately, this week's SoundScan report's kind of a snoozer, but there is a new #1 album to laud.

After five weeks of slowly climbing up Billboard's top 200, the "Mamma Mia!" soundtrack has finally reached the top, bumping Sugarland's Love on the Inside from #1 to #3, on the strength of nearly 130,700 scans (the country duo sold 91,400 units). The soundtrack actually sold more copies last week (around 137,800), but thanks to generally sluggish sales, the set moves from #3 to #1 on next week's chart. Wedged in between "Mamma Mia!" and Sugarland, we find "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus' LP Breakout, which, after three weeks in stores, continues to generate impressive scans, this week adding another 102,400 units to its tally; all told, that offering has sold exactly 636,800 copies.

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With the results of Tuesday’s Kentucky and Oregon primaries in, Barack Obama now has a majority of pledged delegates for the Democratic Party nomination, leading many to dub him the nominee. Calls continue to come out of the Obama camp for Hillary Clinton to once and for all drop out of the race and begin the process of helping the party to unite behind the senator from Illinois.

At least one Obama supporter, though, is in no hurry: Conor Oberst.

Omaha’s folk-rock prince was one of Obama’s earliest musician supporters, playing at a rally for the candidate in Iowa on New Year’s Day, and several since then. And though O backs O as enthusiastically as ever, when I spoke to him last week, he said he has no problem letting the remaining primary states have their say.

“No, at this point [they] might as well,” he told me. “I don’t think there will be an issue with people coming together. Because it’s true there’s such a stark contrast with McCain. And I think everyone will understand that there are two clear choices.” Read more...

Yesterday I got the chance to sit down with one of my favorite musicians on the planet, Conor Oberst.

The setting was a Mexican restaurant in the East Village, about halfway between his house and mine -- though admittedly it was a pretty obvious location choice. You see, earlier this year, Mexico was the place where the nomadic Oberst holed up with a bunch of pals to work on his first solo album in many years, a self-titled release due out August 5th. And yes, he sees a big difference between a solo record and a Bright Eyes record, something he explained in our nearly hour-long conversation.

Conor was in great spirits, and in addition to the new album -- which is more spare and stripped down than last year’s terrific Cassadaga -- we also talked about California (he likes it, I don’t), relationships (not his forte), his aversion to hospitals, and, of course, politics. O, as you might have heard, is a big supporter of O.

So check back with MTVNews.com in the coming weeks for all that -- plus a track-by-track rundown of the entire album...

Conor Oberst, the man behind Bright Eyes' avant-Americana, is getting ready to release his first solo album in thirteen years, on August 4th. The album was recorded in Mexico this past January and February, in an impromptu studio assembled in Tepoztlan, a town known (um, as Merge Records' release tells us) for Aztec vibes and extraterrestrial activity.

The sessions were produced by Conor and cohort Andy LeMaster, and recorded by some friends calling themselves the Mystic Valley Band. (Actually, we should have seen this coming, considering the billing of this fest.)

Oh, and actually, it looks as if most of the album's tracks already can be found, in some version, online. Go out and buy it anyway, people!

While the album title hasn't officially been announced [Update: It's self-titled], you can check out the complete track list for the album after the jump. Read more...

We’re not going to lie to you. We were kind of holding our breath when an early peek at the lineup for the seventh annual Austin City Limits Festival (September 26-28) mysteriously appeared in our inbox. Please don’t let it be Radiohead and Jack Johnson again -- please, please!

Prayers answered. The headliners for the way-diverse fest include:

Gnarls Barkley
N.E.R.D.
Beck
The Raconteurs
Foo Fighters
The Mars Volta
Erykah Badu
Against Me!
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Vampire Weekend
Yeasayer

Other highlights from the lineup after the jump. Read more...

Most of the 29th floor (that's MTV News HQ) is seriously in denial of the country genre -- except when co-opted ironically by Jack White, or tweaked into hipster Americana by Conor Oberst. You know, Pitchfork country! That's why it's particularly painful to deal with this industry touchstone called "SoundScan" week in and week out: it's just hard evidence of how much the rest of the USA disagrees with us.

This is a wordy setup for the news that country has yet again kicked rock to the curb in sales, with that punk George Strait (who?) selling 166,300 copies to beat out R.E.M. The alt-rock legends' latest, Accelerate, comes in at #2 with 115,500 scans.

To salute R.E.M. -- and, basically, to put up a SoundScan fight -- we've posted this excellent interview with the band shot just before the new album's release. And if you're a believer in numbers, check out the rest of this week's chart writeup after the jump.

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