The Monsters of Folk –comprised of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and singer/songwriter M.Ward– bring their Fall tour to the Santa Barbara Bowl on Thursday, October 22nd and will be releasing their first collaborative album on September 22nd. Tickets go on sale, Saturday, August 1st @ 11am, and we’re giving one lucky person a pair of tickets to see these modern day troubadours. Enter below and we’ll pick a winner by the middle of the month. Best of luck.

Monsters of Folk: An Evening With Mike Mogis, Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Yim Yames.

Monsters of Folk began as folklore of sorts, when James, Oberst, Ward and Mogis did their first run of shows together in 2004. Like the musical revue shows that went town to town when rock ‘n’ roll was newly born, the tour was called An Evening With: Bright Eyes, Jim James and M. Ward, although amongst friends and crew, it became affectionately known as the Monsters of Folk Tour. While entertaining audiences coast to coast with gorgeous acoustic melodies and world-weary tales, the foursome vowed to make their way to a studio at some point after the tour’s completion. Instead, the songsmiths went on to individually release some of rock music’s most exciting and essential albums of the last five years: Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning & Cassadaga; My Morning Jacket’s Z & Evil Urges; M. Ward’s Post War and Hold Time.

Never ones to forget their promise, when downtime presented itself, they convened in the studio multiple times over two years, with Mogis at the helm of their first recorded effort. The result is as stunning and storied as you would expect it to be. In a recent interview it emerged that the group had not found recording to be plain sailing. The studio they chose was allegedly an abandoned bordello in the middle of the desert, and had some stories to tell. My Morning Jacket star Jim James saw a ghost at one point, sending shivers down the vocalist’s spine. However the group prevailed, with each member taking it in turns to try a different instrument. Fans eager to hear material from the album can download the song “Say Please” from the official Monsters Of Folk website.

Don’t miss your chance to see Monsters of Folk at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Thursday, October 22, 2009. Tickets On Sale Saturday, August 1 @ 11am. Tickets available at all TicketMaster outlets including: F.Y.E, select Macy’s, Ritmo Latino,the Arlington Theatre and the Santa Barbara Bowl Box Office. To charge by phone please call, 800-745-3000. Order online at www.ticketmaster.com.