Sure, Bob Dylan is a big fan of Christmas nowadays and April Fool’s Day is clearly Trent Reznor’s favorite holiday, but Halloween has a unique way of bringing the festive spirit out of even the most straight-laced of musicians. Conor Oberst, in particular, likes to get dressed up for Halloween and play a couple covers (or as Phish would call them, “musical costumes”). Let’s take a look at a few of the gaunt indie rock heartthrob’s notable celebrations of All Hallows Eve, starting with this year:

With two successful solo albums under his belt, as well as the forthcoming Monsters of Folk collaboration with Jim James and M. Ward, it seemed inevitable that Conor Oberst would outgrow the Bright Eyes moniker he used during his 7-album climb to fame. Speaking to the Omaha World-Herald, Saddle Creek records president Robb Nansel basically affirmed Oberst’s recent suggestion to Rolling Stone that he would shed the moniker in the near future, though there will be at least one more Bright Eyes album first.

“My guess, based on what he’s expressed to me, is that there will be one more Bright Eyes record and that will probably be it,” Nansel told the World-Herald’s Kevin Coffey. “I think that’s his line of thinking at this point — closing the chapter on that moniker. I think he feels like Bright Eyes has a certain association, for better or worse. I think he’s trying to distance himself a little bit from what that means to people.”

As we previously reported, the Monsters of Folk lineup isn’t too far off from the group that played on Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning (Oberst’s best album, IMO), so dropping the Shirley Temple film-inspired name shouldn’t change Oberst’s musical trajectory much.

Now he only needs to do more Emmylou Harris duets and I’ll be happy.

Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, and M. Ward’s M. Ward have been singer/songwriter buddies for years, so it came as no surprise when details about a collaborative album came out. Those details, however, were few and all we had until today was a release date (Sept. 22) with a virtually barren official site.

Speaking to NME.com, the trio revealed that they are actually a quartet and that their forthcoming album will be, as we could’ve predicted, a stripped down affair. Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis is not only producing the record, as previously reported, but he also performs on the songs, making the lineup very similar to Bright Eyes’ critically acclaimed I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, which also featured James and Ward.

“The only rule we made was that we only wanted the four of us to play on it,” Oberst said of the sessions. “There were no extra hired guns, no drummers… we took turns playing drums and bass and experimenting.”

Click here to read how they are also playing up the whole “Monsters” thing by claiming the sessions at Shangri-La studios were haunted.