Kevin Morby announces his eighth studio album, Little Wide Open, out May 15th via Dead Oceans, and shares its lead single & video, “Javelin.” Little Wide Open was produced by Aaron Dessner. Additionally, Morby announces his 2026 world tour.
“Little Wide Open is set to a backdrop of tangled highways, towns with populations less than 100,000, roadside crosses, a rock and roll romance, coupling butterflies, being an American entertainer, Econoline vans and more,” explains Morby. “This is, without a doubt, the most personal and vulnerable album I’ve ever made. Aaron did a heroic job of holding me back from throwing too many tricks at the songs, and letting my stories stand a bit naked. Despite its title this album is in fact, very wide open.”
Of today’s single, “Javelin,” Morby says: “This is a song I wrote about being in love with someone you keep circling around the globe, relentlessly traveling through the air and down highways, and then returning home alone to middle America. Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso) shines here, with her incredible vocals. I had invited her into the studio and asked that she create a backing choir out of just her voice – but her presence is so special that her ‘backing vocals’ can’t help but take the lead.”
The accompanying video for “Javelin” stars Morby and friend Caleb Hearon on an ATV driving around the fields and backroads of Missouri, with cameos from Katie Crutchfield and Tara Raghuveer. “I think it captures all the fun we had making it,” says Morby.
In the summer of 2024, Dessner had asked Morby to support The National at their London show in Crystal Palace Park. Shortly after, Dessner—who was on a hot streak, having produced albums for Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Gracie Abrams—reached out to Morby to say he’d love to produce his next album. They began recording at Aaron’s Long Pond Studio in Stuyvesant, NY, early in 2025 and finished in September of that year.
The album, which includes a host of contributors such as Dessner—who plays multiple instruments across it— Meath, Justin Vernon, Katie Gavin, Lucinda Williams, Mat Davidson, Meg Duffy, Oliver Hill, Rachel Baiman, Stuart Bogie, Tim Carr, Andrew Barr, Benjamin Lanz, Colin Croom and Tom Moth, and mixed by Bella Blasko & Jonathan Low, has been described by Morby as the third in an unintentional trilogy of releases, following 2020’s Sundowner and 2022’s This Is a Photograph, which catalogued his time in middle America after moving back to Kansas City. This time out, Dessner’s production elevates Morby’s recordings while never losing focus of the songs themselves. There’s a newfound confidence and clarity in both Morby’s writing and Dessner’s production that recalls Tom Petty’s 1994 classic Wildflowers. Now primarily living in LA, the atmosphere that runs through Little Wide Open has changed somewhat from its predecessors. The feeling of restlessly hurtling towards something new. A future unseen and untested, but inevitable.
Kevin’s friend, critically acclaimed novelist Rachel Kushner, has written an astonishing essay about Little Wide Open, entitled “Field Guide to the North American Troubadour.” Rather than mangle or chop up the work for the purposes of fitting something so artistically written into the format of a press release, please read her full essay below.
Read Rachel Kushner’s “Field Guide to the North American Troubadour”
Pre-order Little Wide Open
Kevin Morby Tour Dates
Sat. March 14 – Austin, TX @ The Long Time
Fri. May 8 – Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios *
Wed. May 13 – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up Aspen *
Thu. May 14 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre *
Fri. May 15 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
Sun. May 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
Mon. May 18 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre *
Tue. May 19 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
Thu. May 21 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *
Fri. May 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern *
Sat. May 23 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s *
Sun. May 24 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box *
Tue. May 26 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
Wed. May 27 – Santa Fe, NM @ The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing *
Fri. May 29 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater *
Sat. May 30 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall *
Tue. June 2 – Chicago, IL @ Metro *
Thu. June 4 – Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall *
Fri. June 5 – Toronto, ON @ HISTORY *
Sat. June 6 – Montréal, QC @ Théâtre Beanfield *
Sun. June 7 – Boston, MA @ Royale *
Tue. June 9 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
Wed. June 10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel *
Fri. June 12 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre *
Sat. June 13 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground *
Sun. June 14 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
Tue. June 16 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s
Thu. June 18 – Houston, TX @ The Heights Theater
Fri. June 19 – Fort Worth, TX @ Tannahill’s Tavern and Music Hall
Sat. June 20 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
Thu. July 2 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *
Fri. July 3 – Beuningen, NL @ Down the Rabbit Hole
Sat. July 4 – Lille, FR @ L’Aéronef *
Sun. July 5 – Hérouville-Saint-Clair, FR @ Festival Beauregard
Mon. July 6 – Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel *
Wed. July 8 – London, UK @ Troxy *
Thu. July 9 – Manchester, UK @ The Ritz *
Fri. July 10 – Brighton, UK @ CHALK *
Sat. July 11 – Brugge, BE @ Cactusfestival
Sun. July 12 – Köln, DE @ Even Flow Festival
Tue. July 14 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik *
Wed. July 15 – Galzignano Terme, IT @ Anfiteatro del Venda *
Thu. July 16 – Feldkirch, AU @ Poolbar Festival *
Fri. July 17 – Vienna, AU @ Simm City *
Sat. July 18 – Munich, DE @ Technikum *
* = support from Liam Kazar
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]