And here we find what happens when the authentic americana sound of guitar and banjo collide with a chorus of trained voices. What happens is that Lambchop pull another rabbit out of the really beautiful music top hat. Stella is taken from new album, Punching The Clown, which will be released on 21 August 2026 via City Slang, and features Andrew Broder on guitar, Justin Vernon on banjo, and a full choir helmed by Blake Morgan.
Speaking of the track, Kurt Wagner says: “Had a long dream last night where I ended up deep in the woods playing guitar and singing. When I was done and walking back to my car, there were a few people in the woods who voiced their approval. Felt pretty good. I have no idea what that was about. Some songs are like dreams; ‘Stella’ was one of those.” Of the new album he adds: “In early 2024, I heard a song on the radio on my way to get some gas. Just a minimal single-chord strummed banjo and a small group of voices. It seemed perfect in the moment as the moment became perfect in itself. I never found out who it was; it sounded kinda like early country gospel? In a time of searching, I discovered a type of gospel singing known as lined-out singing, which is said to have begun in the late 1800s in Scotland. It migrated to Appalachia and became an obscure root of American gospel, country… a spontaneous call and response type of acapella singing led by a clerk with a chorus of singers revealing the raw beauty and power of the human voice, with its unique varieties, its unadorned simplicity gave weight to the words as they were sung.
I wanted to make a record that emulated this kind of music.”
Lambchop have a couple of dates coming up later in the year at The Union Chapel in London – catch them with a 12-person choir on 27th and 28th November. On the 24th, they play Manchester New Century Hall; the 25th sees them at the Octagon in Sheffield and Sage 2 in Gateshead will be their venue on the 26th, but those dates do not include the choir.
