Video The Nightwatchman
"The Road I Must Travel"

For nearly a decade, he churned out string-popping, punk-funk guitar riffs over which Zach de la Rocha plied his fierce, political rap rants. When Rage Against the Machine broke up in 2000, Morello and two of his bandmates formed Audioslave with Chris Cornell.

But while Audioslave had great success before it disbanded earlier this year, Morello had been quietly scratching an itch to make protest folk in the vain of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, looking to be his own mouthpiece instead of working with another vocalist.

Under the name The Nightwatchman, Morello began playing at cafes and open-mic nights, and for the past year, he has been touring the country incessantly, showing off a songwriting ability and a singing voice that has surprised many longtime fans.

After a fantastic performance at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco last month, Morello sat down with MP3.com to talk about The Nightwatchman's early days in 2003, his politics, and the Rage Against the Machine reunion.