The Mountain Goats Announce New Album Days, Releases “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds”: Stream

The Mountain Goats continue their ever prolific ways with the announcement of their 24th studio album, Days. Due out August 7th via Cadmean Dawn Records, the 12-track LP comes just nine months after 2025’s (slightly wordier) Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan.

If Days’ shorter album title seems a wee bit familiar, that’s likely on purpose. In a press release, frontman John Darnielle says the record “began life as Grunges, a sequel to [2017’s] Goths, after I made a joke on social media about writing a song called ‘Contemplating Pearl Jam in the Carolina Dawn.’” Similarly, Darnielle said that the LP’s recording also took place when “my wife left town for a two-week residency in Virginia,” adding that just such a spousal excursion (“[playing] hockey in Banff”) is “how All Hail West Texas happened.”

The aforementioned two-week recording session was led up by producer John Congleton, with the band gathering at Sear Sound in Manhattan. Along the way, The Mountain Goats recruited a few friends: Rob Jost (bass and French horn); group backing vocals from Manhattan Transfer’s Janis Siegal; melodies/vocals from long-time band compatriot Matt Nathanson; and harpist Mikaela Davis.

As to what the album’s actually about, Darnielle explained that it’s mainly nostalgia, but not necessarily in that rather warm and fuzzy sense.

“These songs are loosely about the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, which is to say they’re about the accumulation of days, each one a little further back than the next, sometimes miraculously seeming clearer as they recede and sometimes blurring into unrecognizable shapes which are sometimes pleasant and sometimes troubling,” Darnielle said. “Most songs here are in major keys but don’t let that fool you. If you do let that fool you I have a bridge to sell you; there is nothing on the other side of the bridge. Still, you shouldn’t let that deter you. Who am I to tell you what kind of bridge you need, or where the bridge you need should lead? Nobody, really. Nobody at all.”

And speaking of generating the warm and fuzzies, our first taste of Days comes with the album’s lead single, “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds.” Not only does it have perhaps the best title of 2026, but the song is a slightly funky, oddly anthemic odd to never giving up and “rising to the occasion.” (Or maybe it’s about bridges?) Check out the official visualizer below.

Pre-orders for Days are available right now.

And what would a new The Mountain Goats album be without a corresponding tour? The band will be on the road for the rest of the year, with US shows slated for the rest of May alongside a smattering in June, July, and August. Check out the full schedule below; grab your tickets here.

Days Tracklist: 01. Song for Layne Staley 02. Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds 03. Shallow Grave 04. Candlebox 05. Annie Haslam Imperial Phase 06. Crying on Eddie Nash’s Grave 07. Days 08. Best Hard Rock Albums 2013 09. Going to Fennario 10. Woodstock 11. Hidden Majesty of Later Venom Albums 12. Last Day

The Mountain Goats 2026 Tour Dates: 05/15 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring 05/16 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater 05/17 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall 05/19 – Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues 05/21 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall 05/22 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Beer Garden 05/23 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue Theatre 05/24 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall 05/26 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville 05/28 – Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall 05/29 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre 05/30 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club 05/31 – Charleston, SC @ Spoleto Festival USA 06/25 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest 06/26 – Berwyn, IL @ Fitzgeralds Outdoors 07/10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^ 08/08 – Portland, OR @ Pioneer Courthouse Square * 08/09 – Seattle, WA @ ZooTunes at Woodland Park Zoo * 08/14 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre 08/15 – Cleveland, OH @ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 08/16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre 08/17 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom 08/19 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom 08/20 – Lititz, PA @ Mickey’s Black Box 08/21 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa 08/22 – Durham, NC @ DPAC 10/05 – Helsinki, FI @ Kuudes Linja # 10/07 – Stockholm, SE @ Nalen # 10/08 – Oslo, NO @ Vulkan Arena # 10/10 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset # 10/11 – Berlin, DE @ Metropol # 10/12 – Hamburg, DE @ Pop Seasons at Christianskirche 10/13 – Ghent, BE @ De Centrale # 10/14 – Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg # 10/16 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall # 10/18 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street # 10/19 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom # 10/21 – London, UK @ Hackney Church # 10/22 – London, UK @ Hackney Church # 10/23 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon # 11/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall 12/10 – New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall 12/11 – New York, NY @ Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall