Secretly American record label Secretly Canadian has announced the long list of upcoming tour dates for Damien Jurado’s next Big Adventure; the keen-eyed troubadour has assembled a batch of cheap wine-swilling hobos playing spoons and rattling tin cans to join him hopping trains and playing midnight bonfires all over this post-Bush Depression-stricken land. So save them some Mulligan’s when they pull into the train-yard nearest you, boys! And watch out for the railroad goons!
Oh wait, I was thinking about Pee Wee Herman. This latest super-tour starts at the Triple Door at the very end of May, on the 29th, and from there it’s all over North America, winding up back in Portland on July 3. And singer-songwriter Damien Jurado does have a new band though, called the Saint Bartlett Band, which is totally weird, because (you won’t believe this) his new album is named Saint Bartlett. Coincidence? Maybe. (Damien has a new kitten named Pear. I’ll let your own mind find its way home now.) Actually, what’s weirder is that the Saint Bartlett Band is actually eight fellow Seattle musicians from Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground. That’s a lot of members to borrow from one band! And that’s a lot of players Damien will have joining him for this very multi-dated tour! (Dates below.)
Meanwhile, pre-orders of Saint Bartlett are available, which will officially be available from Secretly Canadian on May 25 in North America (May 24 in the UK because, I don’t know, Damien hates America now? Or maybe Tuesday happens sooner there? That must be it.) It’s a widescreen collaboration with Richard Swift, who is often scratched behind the ears and on the furry white tummy by rock critics, who like how he piles the softly miasmatic get-through-the-night-all-alone-in-a-trailer-on-the-beach radio noise all around pretty acoustic guitars and plinking pianos.
Jurado himself has again contributed songs full of all manner of psychologically burdened inpatients, emotional phantoms, relational self-immolators, happily disassociated wanderers, ambivalent adulterers, and people who wait in cars because when they’re social in any way they just break jaws and find the leftover pills. You know, The Usual at the Jurado Group Skills Assessment and Development Center of Song. If someone’s sounding happy there, watch out.
All concerts will be opened by a set from Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground:
5/29/10 Seattle, WA – Triple Door (release party with additional players)
6/02/10 Boise, ID – Neurolux
6/03/10 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
6/04/10 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
6/05/10 Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theater
6/06/10 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
6/07/10 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
6/08/10 Milwaukee, WI – Mad Planet
6/09/10 Chicago, IL – Schubas
6/10/10 Louisville, KY – 930 Listening Room
6/11/10 Cincinnati, OH – Northgate Tavern
6/12/10 Indianapolis, IN – IMAF Festival
6/13/10 Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
6/14/10 Columbus, OH – The Treehouse
6/15/10 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
6/16/10 Cambridge, MA – TT The Bears
6/17/10 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
6/18/10 Brooklyn, NY – Littlefield
6/19/10 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
6/20/10 Arlington, VA – IOTA
6/21/10 Charlottesville, VA – Random Row Books
6/22/10 Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle
6/23/10 Nashville, TN – The End
6/24/10 Birmingham, AL – The Bottletree
6/26/10 Austin, TX – Club DeVille
6/28/10 Phoenix, AZ – Rhythm Room
6/29/10 San Diego, CA The Casbah
6/30/10 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland
7/01/10 Visalia, CA – The Cellar Door
7/02/10 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
7/03/10 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
[video:http://vimeo.com/10696279] [video:http://vimeo.com/10897426]