The Mountain Goats continue their ever prolific ways with the announcement of their 24th studio album, Days. Due out August 7th via Cadmean Dawn Records, the 12-track LP comes just nine months after 2025’s (slightly wordier) Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan.
If Days’ shorter album title seems a wee bit familiar, that’s likely on purpose. In a press release, frontman John Darnielle says the record “began life as Grunges, a sequel to [2017’s] Goths, after I made a joke on social media about writing a song called ‘Contemplating Pearl Jam in the Carolina Dawn.’” Similarly, Darnielle said that the LP’s recording also took place when “my wife left town for a two-week residency in Virginia,” adding that just such a spousal excursion (“[playing] hockey in Banff”) is “how All Hail West Texas happened.”
Get The Mountain Goat Tickets Here
The aforementioned two-week recording session was led up by producer John Congleton, with the band gathering at Sear Sound in Manhattan. Along the way, The Mountain Goats recruited a few friends: Rob Jost (bass and French horn); group backing vocals from Manhattan Transfer’s Janis Siegal; melodies/vocals from long-time band compatriot Matt Nathanson; and harpist Mikaela Davis.
As to what the album’s actually about, Darnielle explained that it’s mainly nostalgia, but not necessarily in that rather warm and fuzzy sense.
“These songs are loosely about the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, which is to say they’re about the accumulation of days, each one a little further back than the next, sometimes miraculously seeming clearer as they recede and sometimes blurring into unrecognizable shapes which are sometimes pleasant and sometimes troubling,” Darnielle said. “Most songs here are in major keys but don’t let that fool you. If you do let that fool you I have a bridge to sell you; there is nothing on the other side of the bridge. Still, you shouldn’t let that deter you. Who am I to tell you what kind of bridge you need, or where the bridge you need should lead? Nobody, really. Nobody at all.”
And speaking of generating the warm and fuzzies, our first taste of Days comes with the album’s lead single, “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds.” Not only does it have perhaps the best title of 2026, but the song is a slightly funky, oddly anthemic odd to never giving up and “rising to the occasion.” (Or maybe it’s about bridges?) Check out the official visualizer below.
Pre-orders for Days are available right now.
And what would a new The Mountain Goats album be without a corresponding tour? The band will be on the road for the rest of the year, with US shows slated for the rest of May alongside a smattering in June, July, and August. Check out the full schedule below; grab your tickets here.
Days Artwork:
Days Tracklist:
01. Song for Layne Staley
02. Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds
03. Shallow Grave
04. Candlebox
05. Annie Haslam Imperial Phase
06. Crying on Eddie Nash’s Grave
07. Days
08. Best Hard Rock Albums 2013
09. Going to Fennario
10. Woodstock
11. Hidden Majesty of Later Venom Albums
12. Last Day
The Mountain Goats 2026 Tour Dates:
05/15 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
05/16 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater
05/17 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
05/19 – Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues
05/21 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
05/22 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Beer Garden
05/23 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue Theatre
05/24 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
05/26 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
05/28 – Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall
05/29 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
05/30 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
05/31 – Charleston, SC @ Spoleto Festival USA
06/25 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
06/26 – Berwyn, IL @ Fitzgeralds Outdoors
07/10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^
08/08 – Portland, OR @ Pioneer Courthouse Square *
08/09 – Seattle, WA @ ZooTunes at Woodland Park Zoo *
08/14 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
08/15 – Cleveland, OH @ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
08/16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
08/17 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
08/19 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom
08/20 – Lititz, PA @ Mickey’s Black Box
08/21 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
08/22 – Durham, NC @ DPAC
10/05 – Helsinki, FI @ Kuudes Linja #
10/07 – Stockholm, SE @ Nalen #
10/08 – Oslo, NO @ Vulkan Arena #
10/10 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset #
10/11 – Berlin, DE @ Metropol #
10/12 – Hamburg, DE @ Pop Seasons at Christianskirche
10/13 – Ghent, BE @ De Centrale #
10/14 – Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg #
10/16 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall #
10/18 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street #
10/19 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom #
10/21 – London, UK @ Hackney Church #
10/22 – London, UK @ Hackney Church #
10/23 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon #
11/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall
12/10 – New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
12/11 – New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
^ = w/ The Avett Brothers
* = w/ The Hold Steady
# = w/ Craig Finn
@ = Expanded Line-Up
