Cabic and Banhart draw inspiration from the same set of obscure late-'60s British folk songs, and while Vetiver's music has always sounded as if it were dug out of amber, on Thing of the Past Cabic turns to his record collection for material, not just guidance.
The New Lost City Ramblers were formed with the explicit intention of resurrecting this music "as it had sounded before the inroads of radio, movies, and television had begun to homogenize out diverse regional folkways".