John Darnielle is never not writing and recording new songs. Darnielle's Mountain Goats have now released 23 official albums; their last one, Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan, came out just a couple of months ago. Now, they've got another new song. In a Bandcamp-alert email. Darnielle says that the band wasn't planning on releasing new music so quickly but that they decided to share this one "in honor of Bob Weir, who's crossed over to the next life and leaves behind a musical legacy that will be treasured for as long as people listen to music."
The new song "Going To Fennario" it the latest of Darnielle's many, many songs with "Going To..." titles. He and bandmates Jon Wurster and Matt Douglas recorded it with producer John Congleton, with Mikaela Davis on harp, Rob Jost on bass, and George Douglas on hammer dulcimer. It's a bouncy tune that adapts the kinds of melodies and harmonies that I usually associate with traditional folk music. Even though he's been making acoustic-guitar singer-songwriter music for decades, I don't really think of Darnielle as being part of that tradition.
Darnielle calls this song "an early look at what we got up to last fall between tours" and that 100% of its proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society. Here's what he writes in the Bandcamp description:
I've been writing songs whose titles start with "Going to..." for thirty years or so – it's an informal series within our catalog, though I don't do so many of them any more. Last year I was listening to multiple versions of the Dead's "Peggy-O" (try the version from Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC, 4/12/78) and thinking about Fennario, also the land of "Dire Wolf," and I thought I'd write a traditional style tune myself. I thought about how lucid and unsentimental traditional songs are about death and change – how folk songs present life as it is and let the feeling flow from there – and I wrote "Going to Fennario."
I listen to the Grateful Dead all the time; their endless musical curiosity is a north star for anybody who seeks a life in music, plus anybody who tours in a rock band walks down paths cleared by the Dead. Their work means so much to me. We weren't going to release any new music until later this year, but in honor of Bob Weir, who's crossed over to the next life and leaves behind a musical legacy that will be treasured for as long as people listen to music, I wanted to put this out now, so here's an early look at what we got up to last fall between tours. It's got Mikaela Davis on harp, Rob Jost on bass, and the usual suspects – me, Matt Douglas, and Jon Wurster – holding down the rest. You can pay what you like, believe it if you need it, or leave it if you dare; 100% of the proceeds on this single will go to the American Cancer Society.
Thanks, Bob Weir, for all those "Jack Straw"s that're always right there when I need 'em. Your work lives on. Travel safely home.
