Pitchfork

When you've romanced both Chan Marshall and Joanna Newsom like Bill Callahan has, you can pretty much do as you please: stick arbitrary parentheses around your long-standing pseudonym, drop said moniker altogether and issue one of the finest albums of your storied career, and make sure that the un-mess-withable folks of the Lone Star State get a crack at your latest jams a full week before everyone else.

Though the artist formerly known as Smog's rousing rebirth record Woke on a Whaleheart will blow up spots continent-wide April 24, Texans can pick up Whaleheart right now. (Drag City is doing the blowing up.) Not only that, but they're the only state in the nation Callahan's playing on his current tour, which will lead him UK-ward for a few dates around the turn of the month. Those drawl-free types dying for a Whaleheart fix can pick up the "Diamond Dancer" single, which was issued sans geographical preference March 20.

The yellow rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee:

04-18 Houston, TX - Orange Show
04-19 Dallas, TX - Sons of Hermann Hall
04-21 Austin, TX - The Mohawk
04-22 San Antonio, TX - The Limelight
04-26 Leeds, England - The Cockpit
04-27 Birmingham, England - Academy 2
04-28 London, England - Queen Elizabeth Hall
04-29 Somerset, England - Butlins Minehead ATP vs. You (the Fans) Festival
04-30 Manchester, Englang - Academy 2
05-01 Leicester, England - Y Theatre
05-02 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC 2
08-17 Brecon Beacons, Wales - Glanusk Park (Greenman Festival)