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Jul 14, 2015 By Christopher Roberts The Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle has announced a brief “All Roads Lead to Lincoln” solo mini-tour to go down this September. It’s in support of the band’s recent wrestling themed album, Beat the Champ. Darnielle released a long statement about the tour:

“When Maximum Ames asked me to play their festival again, of course I said ‘Ames! That’s where I used to live!’ and then basked in the glorious silence that follows a move-to-strike-as-nonresponsive response. When, after the silence had passed, they asked again, ignoring my non-sequitur as if I hadn’t said anything at all, which put me in the mind of the book I’ve been reading-very, very slowly reading, because 1) two kids and 2) summer cold. Really long-legged horrible summer cold. Head feels like a boulder. Conflicted about this because boulders are awesome in my opinion, what cold-hearted monster doesn’t love boulders, but when your head feels like one and you’re 100% sure that that’s the right simile, you get to wondering: maybe boulders feel terrible? Maybe they want to be birds, like everybody else? Or fish, or also bears.

At any rate, of course I said ‘yes’ to Maximum Ames, it’s been a couple of years and did I mention that’s where I used to live? It totally is! And then I thought, out in that neighborhood there’s places I hardly ever get to play, why not make an expedition of it, those solo shows last year were really really fun, most especially the Chicago ones, you can really get something unique going at a solo set when all the variables line up. Hence that’s why I’m goin’ on THE MOUNTAIN GOATS ALL ROADS LEAD TO LINCOLN SOLO MINI-TOUR 2015. Did you know I lived three hours from Lincoln for a decade or so and never once played there? All that’s about to change! I really enjoy stretching my legs out on a few solo shows a year, there’s room for songs that just don’t fit into the burn-down-the-barn-and-feed-the-ashes-to-your-enemies-but-then-feel-guilty-about-it-because-your-enemies-have-feelings-too milieu of the full-band set. See you out there!”

The Mountain Goats Tour Dates:

Sep 08 St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway ^
Sep 09 Lawrence, KS - Lawrence Arts Center ^
Sep 10 Lincoln, NE - Vega ^
Sep 12 Ames, IA - Maximum Ames Music Festival ^
Nov 12 Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
Nov 13 Glasgow, UK - Art School
Nov 14 Dublin, IE - Whelans
Nov 15 Manchester, UK - Gorilla
Nov 17 Bristol, UK - Trinity
Nov 18 Brighton, UK - Komedia
Nov 19 London, UK - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
^ John Darnielle solo