Bill Callahan Drops Final Tracks off Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest

Bill Callahan has released the remaining tracks off his first studio LP in six years, Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest. The double album is his follow-up to 2013’s Dream River and taps into the expert storyteller’s new life of fatherhood and marriage, as well as the heartbreaking passing of his mother.

Callahan’s sun-warmed tracks seem to stretch on forever—for 20 songs, to be exact—and swerves away from the introspection of solitude we’re used to with his previous works.

His baritone rumblings surround him with love and family, made concrete with the sights, sounds and smells of his new life as a husband and father. Most of all, the new album is full of happiness and a grinning contentment from an artist known for his bleak, haunting musings.

Lively and loose, the LP is laced with the pleasures of life and precise, profound images of love and happiness.

Formerly known for recording as Smog, Callahan is set to tour the U.S. this summer.

Give Callahan’s new album a listen here and check out details of “Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest” and upcoming tour dates further down. You can also read up on Paste’s coverage of the release of the album’s first and second sides here.

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest Album Art:

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest Tracklist:
01. Shepherd’s Welcome
02. Black Dog on the Beach
03. Angela
04. The Ballad of The Hulk
05. Writing
06. Morning is My Godmother
07. 747
08. Watch Me Get Married
09. Young Icarus
10. Released
11. What Comes After Certainty
12. Confederate Jasmine
13. Call Me Anything
14. Son of the Sea
15. Camels
16. Circles
17. When We Let Go
18. Lonesome Valley
19. Tugboats and Tumbleweeds
20. The Beast

Bill Callahan Tour Dates:

June
13 – Joshua Tree, Calif. @ Pappy & Harriet’s
14 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Lodge Room
15 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Lodge Room
17 – Big Sur, Calif. @ Henry Miller Library
18 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Castro Theatre
19 – Sonoma, Calif. @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery
21 – Portland, Ore. @ Wonder Ballroom
22 – Seattle, Wash. @ Neptune Theatre

July
05 – Lawrence, Kan. @ Lawrence Public Library
06 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ Cedar Cultural Center
07 – Chicago, Ill. @ Thalia Hall
08 – Detroit, Mich. @ Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
10 – Boston, Mass. @ Sinclair
11 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Murmrr Theatre
12 – Jersey City, N.J. @ White Eagle Hall
13 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ World Cafe Live
14 – Washington, DC. @ Miracle Theatre
16 – Chapel Hill, N.C. @ Cat’s Cradle
17 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Terminal West
18 – Oxford, Miss. @ Proud Larry’s