Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – “Empty Trainload Of Sky”
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Alysse Gafkjen
For the first time in four years, a new Gillian Welch and David Rawlings album is on the way. In fact, it will be out just five weeks from now. Woodland is named for the couple’s Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, which was badly damaged by a tornado but is back up and running now. The folk legends shared this statement about the project and its inspiration:
Woodland is at the heart of everything we do, and has been for the last twenty some years. The past four years were spent almost entirely within its walls, bringing it back to life after the 2020 tornado and making this record. The music is (songs are) a swirl of contradictions, emptiness, fullness, joy, grief, destruction, permanence. Now.
Along with the album announcement, the duo has shared opening track “Empty Trainload Of Sky,” a bluesy folk song you can hear below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Empty Trainload Of Sky”
02 “What We Had”
03 “Lawman”
04 “The Bells And The Birds”
05 “North Country”
06 “Hashtag”
07 “The Day The Mississippi Died”
08 “Turf The Gambler”
09 “Here Stands A Woman”
10 “Howdy Howdy”
TOUR DATES:
07/23 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground SOLD OUT
07/24 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall SOLD OUT
07/25 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall SOLD OUT
07/27 – Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival SOLD OUT
09/04 – Bowling Green, KY @ SKyPAC
09/05 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bluebird
09/06 – Evanston, IL @ Cahn Auditorium
09/08 – Madison, WI @ The Orpheum Theater
09/09 – St Paul, MN @ The Fitzgerald Theater
09/10 – St Paul, MN @ The Fitzgerald Theater
09/12 – Des Moines, IA @ Hoyt Sherman Place
09/14 – La Vista, NE @ The Astro
09/15 – Kansas City, MO @ Folly Theater
09/16 – St Louis, MO @ The Sheldon
10/13 – Birmingham, AL @ The Lyric Theatre
10/14 – Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall
10/15 – Charlotte, NC @ Knight Theater
10/17 – Boone, NC @ The Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts
10/18 – Knoxville, TN @ Bijou Theatre
10/19 – Asheville, NC @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
10/21 – Charleston, SC @ Charleston Music Hall
10/23 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
10/24 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
11/20 – Louisville, KY @ The Brown Theatre
11/21 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
11/22 – Detroit, MI @ The Masonic Temple
11/23 – Akron, OH @ Goodyear Theater
11/25 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Byham Theater
11/26 – Ithaca, NY @ State Theatre of Ithaca
11/27 – Troy, NY @ Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
11/30 – Kingston, NY @ Ulster Performing Arts Center
12/01 – Boston, MA @ The Wilbur
12/03 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre
12/05 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre
Woodland is out 8/23 on Welch and Rawlings’ Acony Records.
![](https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2024/07/unnamed-2024-07-19T092031.852-1721395273-1000x1004.jpg)
Alysse Gafkjen