Kevin Morby Releases New Single “Badlands”

Kevin Morby releases “Badlands,” the third single from his eighth studio album, Little Wide Open, out May 15th via Dead Oceans. Following “Die Young,” which is “dusky, sheltering and saturated with gratitude just for the chance to keep traveling,” (Relix) “Badlands” captures Morby’s relationship to Kansas City, and more broadly, the Midwest. As he puts it, “Kansas City is not the badlands but it’s my badlands. It’s not the bible belt but it’s my bible belt.”

“Badlands” also illustrates the album title. As award-winning novelist Rachel Kushner writes in her astonishing essay about Little Wide Open entitled “Field Guide to the North American Troubadour,” “for him, the LWO is the big sky, the small lives—it’s his origins in the Midwest and every duty and modesty and familiarity and isolation: the land, the people, and the parts of that inside him.”

On the track, Morby sings: “Welcome to the Midwest // Where the sky knows best // and you’ll finally get some rest // ’Til the tornado sirens start harmonizing // and I can’t tell if I’m in heaven or if I’m in the badlands.” He is joined by Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), whose harmonization with Morby serve to emulate tornado sirens.

“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.” 

In the summer of 2024, Aaron 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, Davidson, Meg Duffy, Oliver Hill, Rachel Baiman, Stuart Bogie, Tim Carr, Andrew Barr, Benjamin Lanz, Colin Croom and Tom Moth, 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”

Morby will embark on an extensive world tour kicking off in May. Tickets are now on sale here and a full list of dates is available below. 

Pre-order Little Wide Open 

Watch the Video for “Javelin”

Kevin Morby Tour Dates

(New Dates in Bold)

Sat. March 14 – Austin, TX @ The Long Time

Tue. March 24 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East [SOLD OUT]

Fri. May 8 – Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios * [SOLD OUT]

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

Fri. May 15 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge (Kilby Block Party After 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 *

Fri. July 24 – Eau Claire, WI @ Eaux Claires Festival

* = support from Liam Kazar