The Sunset Tree

The Sunset Tree is the ninth studio album by the Mountain Goats, released on April 26, 2005 by 4AD. The album's songs revolve around the house John Darnielle grew up in and the people who lived there, including his mother, sister, stepfather, friends, and enemies. The Sunset Tree received notable acclaim from critics, and was instrumental in introducing the Mountain Goats to a wider, mainstream audience. A prominent review of The Sunset Tree in The New York Times called the album 'extraordinary', and The New Yorker's rock critic, Sasha Frere-Jones, pronounced Darnielle as 'America's best non-hip-hop lyricist' in an essay in May 2005.

In October 2025, more than twenty years after the album's release, Paste named The Sunset Tree the 50th greatest album of the 21st Century, in their list of 'The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far'.