Rhune

At 24, Justin Vernon moved to North Carolina with his band. Within a year he’d had mono and a liver infection, been pushed out of the band and broken up with his girlfriend.

At 25 he drove home overnight to his father’s hunting cabin in Wisconsin and stayed three months. He hunted, stacked wood, and recorded on a 1964 Silvertone guitar, stacking his falsetto into a choir. He named it after “bon hiver”, French for “good winter”, which he’d seen on Northern Exposure, and dropped the h. He self-released 500 CDs.

For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver. Jagjaguwar, 19 February 2008.

Photos: Bon Iver by Moses (CC BY 2.0) and Pedro from Lisboa (CC BY 2.0); Wisconsin forest by Tony Webster (CC BY-SA 2.0).

#boniver #foremmaforeverago #skinnylove #justinvernon