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Aug 14, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Hiss Golden Messenger

Hiss Golden Messenger (the band led by M.C. Taylor) is releasing a new album, Terms of Surrender, on September 20 via Merge. Now he has shared another song from it, “Happy Birthday, Baby.” The song was written for his daughter’s fifth birthday. Listen below (via Rolling Stone), followed by Hiss Golden Messenger’s upcoming tour dates.

Taylor had this to say to Rolling Stone about the song and how he wrote it for his daughter: “It’s mostly a love letter to her, part apology, part plea for forgiveness, and part recounting of the day she was born, when all the roads boiled over with rainwater and thunder and lightning filled the air. There are also many secret things in this song that only my family knows about.”

Previously Taylor shared a video for the album’s first single, “I Need a Teacher” (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Then he shared another song from the album, “Cat’s Eye Blue.”

Taylor produced Terms of Surrender with Brad Cook. It was recorded in upstate New York at the Long Pond studio belonging to Aaron Dessner of The National. Then there was additional recording at Sound City in Los Angeles, Haptown Studio in Nashville, and Overdub Lane in Durham, North Carolina. Dessner guests on the album, as does Jenny Lewis and Josh Kaufman. D.L. Anderson directed the “I Need a Teacher” video, which was filmed in May during the statewide North Carolina Association of Educators’ Day of Action demonstration.

One dollar from each ticket on the tour will benefit Durham Public Schools Foundation, “whose mission is to foster community support for public schools and invest in our students, educators and families to ensure success and equity for every student.”

Hiss Golden Messenger’s last album of new material was 2017’s Hallelujah Anyhow, on Merge. Although in March 2018 he shared a new song, “Passing Clouds,” to support Everytown for Gun Safety (it was one of our Songs of the Week). Last fall Hiss Golden Messenger released, via Merge, the new 4-LP boxset, Devotion: Songs About Rivers and Spirits and Children, which included remastered reissues of three previous albums (Bad Debt, Poor Moon, and Haw), as well as the rarities compilation Virgo Fool. Earlier this year he also shared two new songs: “Watching the Wires” and “Everybody Needs Somebody.”

Hiss Golden Messenger Tour Dates:

August 19 - Vail, CO - Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater *
August 21 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater *
August 22 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater *
August 24 - Fayetteville, AR - Fayetteville Town Center
August 27 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore *
August 30 - Minneapolis, MN - Surly Brewing *
August 31 - East Moline, IL - The Rust Belt *
September 1 - Kansas City, MO - Crossroads KC *
September 15 - Telluride, CO - Telluride Blues & Brews
September 24 - Greenville, SC - Radio Room ^
September 25 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West ^
September 26 - Waverly, AL - Standard Deluxe - Outdoor ^
September 27 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn ^
September 28 - New Orleans, LA - Tipitina’s ^
September 30 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada +
October 1 - Austin, TX - Antone’s +
October 3 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole +
October 4 - San Diego, CA - Casbah +
October 5 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom +
October 9 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
October 10 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern %
October 11 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern %
October 12 - Vancouver, BC - Imperial Ballroom %
October 14 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett %
October 15 - Missoula, MT - Top Hat Lounge %
October 16 - Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room %
October 18 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall %
October 19 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall %
November 2 - Winston-Salem, NC - Symphony Unbound w/
The Winston-Salem Symphony
November 7 - Nashville, TN - Basement East ^
November 8 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar ^
November 9 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall ^
November 10 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark ^
November 12 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern #
November 13 - Ithaca, NY - The Haunt #
November 14 - New York, NY - Webster Hall #
November 15 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair #
November 16 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom #
November 17 - Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live #

* supporting Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
^ with special guest Dee White
+ with special guest Daughter of Swords
% with special guest Erin Rae
# with special guest Molly Tuttle

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