Today marks the premiere of “Picture of My Dress” off The Mountain Goats’ imminent new album, Getting Into Knives (out October 23)! The song’s creation happened in plain sight, beginning with a single tweet from “Good Bones” poet Maggie Smith suggesting a simple photo essay involving a woman driving across the country taking pictures of a discarded wedding dress. John Darnielle came across the tweet and was struck by the imagery; he quickly titled the song and got to work, striking up a friendship with Smith in the process.
Like the other 12 songs found on Getting Into Knives, “Picture of My Dress” was carefully filtered through the legendary Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis with the assistance of producer Matt Ross-Spang, whose credits include work with Jason Isbell, Margo Price, and John Prine. The result is what Darnielle describes as “a pop-country song that’s still identifiably the Mountain Goats, universally relatable but still a little cracked.”
In other exciting news, the Mountain Goats are announcing their first full-band online concerts for October 22 and 29, both starting at 9pm ET! The Jordan Lake Sessions were captured on video at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Two shows, 36 songs across the band’s entire catalog, no repeats. Tickets for these performances are available now, and purchases will include a rebroadcast of the show for 24 hours.
Purchase tickets for the Jordan Lake Sessions on NoonChorus
Photo by Jade Wilson