As a member of both Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo, Portland warlock Ripley Johnson has a long history of making excellent way-out psychedelic rock. With Rose City Band, though, Johnson does something else. Despite its name, Rose City Band is almost entirely a solo project, with Johnson playing just about everything himself. On his two Rose City Band albums, Johnson has been making supremely chilled-out country-rock. It’s as stoner-friendly as the music that Johnson has made with Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo, but the vibe is all different. It’s soft, gentle sunlight-through-the-blinds music, and it’s really good.

Next month, Johnson will release the new Rose City Band album Earth Trip. Thus far, Johnson has shared two singles, “Lonely Places” and “Silver Roses.” Both of them sound like Wilco covering Galaxie 500, which is a good thing. Today, Johnson has shared the new track “Ramblin’ With The Day,” which eases even further into the mellow folk-rock blissout zone and which finds Johnson rhapsodizing about the feeling of dirt in his toes.

In a press release, Johnson says:

I did a lot of looking back during 2020. This song came together after a mushroom trip where I laid in bed and listened to The Basement Tapes and Johnny Cash. It took me back to a place when I was younger and would ramble around the woods and fields with one of my oldest and dearest friends, taking psychedelics and generally having our young minds blown. I realized how direct the line is from those formative experiences to who I am now, and this song is an attempt to pay honor to that, and to that enduring friendship.

Check it out below.

Earth Trip is out 6/25 on Thrill Jockey.