Following the dissolution of Red House Painters after the tumultuous release of their last album, "Old Ramon", Kozelek released a handful of solo recordings before forming Sun Kil Moon in 2002. The band's debut album, "Ghosts of the Great Highway", was released in November 2003 by Jetset Records. It contains several songs concerned with true-life stories of deceased boxers, such as Mexican featherweight champion Salvador Sánchez, Filipino flyweight champion Pancho Villa, and also Korean boxer Duk Koo Kim, two of the three boxers died at the age of 23 as Kim died at 27. The album was well received by critics, garnering an overall rating of 84/100 on Metacritic.com.