Folk rockers Band of Horses plugged, unplugged

Folk-rockers Band of Horses have fans in high places.

During the last few years, they've opened for Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and My Morning Jacket, and performed as part of the massive Global Citizen Festival in Central Park.

The band's latest album, "Mirage Rock," was produced by Glyn Johns, who has worked with The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, among others. This week, they'll play two shows in one night - an acoustic performance followed by an electric one.

amNewYork spoke with singer Ben Bridwell

Why have you described "Mirage Rock" as your most fun record? Because having Glyn there pushing us to do things live and haphazardly made for a lot less overthinking. It was "play your music and I'll hit record."

Do people think of you as overly serious because your breakout single was called "The Funeral"? People are probably surprised when they see that our shows can be high energy, rockin' and positive kinds of experiences. There's a constant balance of good and evil, happy and sad, light and dark. Even the record with "The Funeral" also had a song called "Weed Party."

Whose idea was it to do two concerts in one night? It might have been mine. We play acoustic when we go to a record store or show up at a radio station and have really embraced that side of performing. We've played New York a lot lately and this seemed like an interesting way to mix things up.

What was it like to play in Central Park? It was awesome, but my football team [the Georgia Bulldogs] had a major game that day. I basically ran to the stage, played for 20 minutes, then ran back to my computer and watched the game. It ended right before [headliner] Neil Young and Crazy Horse, so I'm glad I got to see them.

If you go: Band of Horses is playing an acoustic show at Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom at 7 p.m. Tuesday, followed by an electric show at Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom at 10 p.m., 311 W. 34th St. Acoustic, $29; electric, $40.