Why did Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes ...?

Question

Why did he release his last Album under his own name instead of Bright Eyes? I also heard he was supposed to do a project with M. Ward ... is that still in the works?

Answer 1

I never heard anything about Oberst collaborating with Ward so I can't help you there, sorry.

But Bright Eye's official, stable members are Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott. Although they do change other members frequently with each new record, for an album to be considered a Bright Eyes work it must have contribution from Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, neither of whom are in the Mystic Valley Band. So this last work is technically a solo piece from Oberst.