Neutral Milk Hotel was an American band formed in Ruston, Louisiana, by musician Jeff Mangum. They were active from 1989 to 1998, and then from 2013 to 2015. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psychedelic folk. Mangum wrote surreal and opaque lyrics that covered a wide range of topics, including love, spirituality, nostalgia, sex, and loneliness. He and the other band members played a variety of instruments, including non-traditional instruments like the singing saw and uilleann pipes.
Jeff Mangum performing with Neutral Milk Hotel in 1997
Jeff Mangum performing on the Neutral Milk Hotel reunion tour in 2014
Ruston is a small city and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2020 population was 22,166. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex region and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Ruston is the principal city of the Ruston micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Lincoln Parish.
Ruston City Hall
Ruston in 1935
Greenwood Cemetery in Ruston has graves from the American Civil War era. Notable interments include Robert Edwin Russ, founder of Ruston, and publisher Clarence Faulk.
Restored historic fire station in downtown Ruston
