M. Ward readies spring album and tour

M. Ward's next album, Migration Stories, will be released on April 3 via Anti Records. A full North American tour will follow in April and May - all dates below. First track, "Migration Of Souls," is out now.

For his tenth album, Ward journeyed to Quebec, Canada to work with Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury, Richard Reed Parry, producer/mixer Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine) and Teddy Impakt. Together they recorded a collection of 11 songs inspired by stories of human migration. These songs have their origins in pictures from newspaper and television reports, stories told by friends and tales from Ward’s own family history. At Arcade Fire’s Montreal studios the assembled talents recorded what he describes as “11 largely instrumental ballads - a sci-fi fast forward to a more silent night many generations from here to a maybe-era where movement is free again.”

Says Ward of the stories which informed these songs, “Some time went by, the stories wove together and I remember them now closer to characters in a dream of how people could treat each other than any kind of front-page news realism. I think music subconsciously - whether writing or listening - is a filter for me. Helping to process all the bad news into something new to build from. Some records to me are like self-fulfilling prophecies - visualizing change to wish something into being. Those records inspired this one.”

“Migration of Souls” imagines a reunion beyond the boundaries of space and time, while Ward takes on the 1940 cowboy ballad, "Along The Santa Fe Trail," popularized by Glenn Miller.

In just the last decade, Ward has collaboration with Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Jim James to form the Monsters of Folk, paired with Zooey Deschanel for six records as She & Him and worked in the studio and on the road with Mavis Staples, Jenny Lewis, Norah Jones, Cat Power, Neko Case, Lucinda Williams, Peter Buck, and more.

Track list:

1. Migration Of Souls
2. Heaven's Nail and Hammer
3. Coyote Mary's Traveling Show
4. Independent Man
5. Stevens' Snow Man
6. Unreal City
7. Real Silence
8. Along the Santa Fe Trail #
9. Chamber Music
10. Torch
11. Rio Drone

Tour Dates:

04/17/20 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer - Tickets
04/18/20 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall - Tickets
04/19/20 - Jersey City, NJ @ White Eagle Hall - Tickets
04/22/20 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom - Tickets
04/24/20 - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair - Tickets
04/26/20 - Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios - Tickets
04/28/20 - Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt - Tickets
04/29/20 - Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall - Tickets
05/01/20 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall - Tickets
05/02/20 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre - Tickets
05/03/20 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue - Tickets
05/14/20 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall - Tickets
05/16/20 - Seattle, WA @ The Neptune Theatre - Tickets
05/17/20 - Tacoma, WA @ Elks Temple - Tickets
05/19/20 - Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery - Redwood Barn - Tickets
05/20/20 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel - Tickets
05/22/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater - Tickets