Welch, Rawlings slate new disc, tour

The new 10-song collection mingles full band tracks with duet performances. The song "Empty Trainload of Sky" was released today.

"Woodland" was named for and recorded at Welch and Rawlings' own Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville. They said in a statement, "Woodland is at the heart of everything we do and has been for the last 20 some years. The past four years were spent almost entirely within its walls, bringing it back to life after the 2020 tornado and making this record. The music is (songs are) a swirl of contradictions, emptiness, fullness, joy, grief, destruction, permanence. Now."

This is their first album since 2020's "All the Good Times," a collection of covers and classic folk songs which earned the duo the 2021 GRAMMY Award for Best Folk Album, and their first album of new original music since 2017's "Poor David's Almanack."

The duo also announced new shows this fall including St Paul, Minn., Kansas City, Atlanta and Detroit. They return to Fort Adams State Park in Newport, R.I. where they will close the festival main stage at the Newport Folk Festival on July 2. These upcoming dates will be some of their first public performances since appearing on 2019's Oscars. The pair will announce additional dates throughout 2024 and 2025. The new dates will go on sale on Friday, July 26 at 10 a..m. local time.

The track list is:
Empty Trainload Of Sky BR>What We Had
Lawman
The Bells And The Birds
North Country
Hashtag
The Day The Mississippi Died
Turf The Gambler
Here Stands A Woman
Howdy Howdy

Tour dates are:
July 23 – South Burlington, VT at Higher Ground SOLD OUT
July 24 – Northampton, MA at Iron Horse Music Hall SOLD OUT
July 25 – Northampton, MA at Iron Horse Music Hall SOLD OUT
July 27 – Newport, RI at Newport Folk Festival SOLD OUT
Sept. 4 – Bowling Green, KY at SKyPAC
Sept. 5 – Bloomington, IN at The Bluebird
Sept. 6 – Evanston, IL at Cahn Auditorium
Sept. 8 – Madison, WI at The Orpheum Theater
Sept. 9 – St Paul, MN at The Fitzgerald Theater
Sept. 10 – St Paul, MN at The Fitzgerald Theater
Sept. 12 – Des Moines, IA at Hoyt Sherman Place
Sept. 14 – La Vista, NE at The Astro
Sept. 15 – Kansas City, MO at Folly Theater
Sept. 16 – St Louis, MO at The Sheldon
Oct. 13 – Birmingham, AL at The Lyric Theatre
Oct. 14 – Atlanta, GA at Atlanta Symphony Hall
Oct. 15 – Charlotte, NC at Knight Theater
Oct. 17 – Boone, NC at The Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts
Oct. 18 – Knoxville, TN at Bijou Theatre
Oct. 19 – Asheville, NC at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Oct. 21 – Charleston, SC at Charleston Music Hall
Oct. 23 – Saxapahaw, NC at Haw River Ballroom
Oct. 24 – Saxapahaw, NC at Haw River Ballroom
Nov. 20 – Louisville, KY at The Brown Theatre
Nov. 21 – Cincinnati, OH at Taft Theatre
Nov. 22 – Detroit, MI at The Masonic Temple
Nov. 23 – Akron, OH at Goodyear Theater
Nov. 25 – Pittsburgh, PA at Byham Theater
Nov. 26 – Ithaca, NY at State Theatre of Ithaca
Nov. 27 – Troy, NY at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
Nov. 30 – Kingston, NY at Ulster Performing Arts Center
Dec. 1 – Boston, MA at The Wilbur
Dec. 3 – Portland, ME at State Theatre
Dec. 5 – Port Chester, NY at The Capitol Theatre