Pitchfork

It's just a big ol' boot-stompin' hootenanny all the time with these alt-country types, I tell ya. Just look at that M. Ward character. Greenhorn's only been around a few years now, and he's already covering Jimmie Dale Gilmore and hooking up with the most respected urban cowboys and cowgals in the game: Neko Case, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), Nels Cline (Wilco), and even the grandson of banjo legend Earl Scruggs.

The proof's in the pudding, and the pudding here is a new single Ward has rounded up for release on February 20 via Merge. It collects "To Go Home", from this year's quite lovely Post-War, an epic cover of Gilmore's "Headed for a Fall"-- featuring Case (vocals), James (guitar/vocals), Cline (lead guitar), Saddle Creek handyman Mike Mogis (pedal steel), and ex-Thermal Jordan Hudson (drums)-- and new jams "Human Punching Bag" and "Cosmopolitan Pap". The latter showcases Gelb's piano skills and Chris Scruggs' lap steel chops. Mogis mixed both of the star-studded selections.

Ward goes to the land down under this winter, where it will be summer, a season more conducive to his six-shootin', rough'n'tumble ways.

"To Go Home":

01 To Go Home
02 Cosmopolitan Pap
03 Human Punching Bag
04 Headed for a Fall

Ward down under:

12-29 Lorne, Australia - Falls Festival
12-30 Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel
12-31 Marrion Bay, Australia - Falls Festival
01-02 Fremantle, Australia - Fly by Night Club
01-04 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo
01-05 Sydney, Australia - The Metro
01-10 Auckland, New Zealand - The Dogs Bollix
01-11 Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House