“Whon” uses a ghost town in Texas as a reminder that all things have a chance to fade.

Track: “Whon”
Album: Unreleased

“Whon” exists solely as this recording at Zoop II, a benefit concert from 2009 that we have discussed at length here before. John Darnielle asks someone to come up and hold the lyrics for him and tells the crowd that the song isn’t actually finished and he’s going to finish it right now. The lyrics are ready, but that crowd in that moment hears the chords for the first time. Zoop is a special thing, but even beyond that this is an unheard of moment. That was fifteen years ago as of this writing and as far as it seems, that’s all there is to “Whon.”

The title comes from a town in Texas that was named Whon by mistake as a misunderstanding after an attempt to name something after a worker named Juan. There are a lot of really interesting resources out there that detail the history of Whon, including this charming website full of first-hand accounts but also the Google Street View of the area. I recommend taking a virtual drive around nearby Rockwood, Texas which was photographed in 2008 and 2023. In examples like this one, you can watch Whon (or nearby) change in just that short time. Our narrator in “Whon” is equally fascinated with the passage of time and what happens when everyone leaves. You can see it as barns and lean-tos are in one photograph, but, like so many things, they’re gone by the next one.